When I'm With You
by seeyouinseoul
Summary: He didn't know when he started loving Evie, or really even what that meant. He only knew that when he was with her he felt...good. He wanted her to look at him in that way only she could. He wanted to be the reason her beautiful smile lit up her face. He didn't know the first thing about love, but he knew he wanted to be with Evie, forever, all the strings attached. J/E B/M C/L
1. ONE: you say that like its a bad thing

_**Hello, new friends!**_

 _ **I've noticed that there are shockingly few quality Jay/Evie stories out there, so I figured I'd try my hand at one. Other couples will be Ben/Mal and Carlos/Lonnie because I love them all and am too much of a hopeless romantic to break up any canon couple. :) The inspiration for this story is the song "Strings" by Shawn Mendes and some of the lyrics will be featured before chapters. The POV will be thirds person limited, alternating between Jay and Evie every chapter. Titles of chapters are quotes from the opposite character than the POV, unless I screw up. So without further ado, let's get things started!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I own nothing, but hey, what's new?**_

* * *

 **WHEN I'M WITH YOU**

Its like always and forever

I won't let a moment pass

And when I'm with you I feel better

I want all the strings, all the strings attached

 **ONE: "you say that like its a bad thing."  
**

It was a beautiful sunny day at Auradon Prep, but that was nothing new. Evie was almost certain it never rained on the kingdom, and that the sun had some magic in it that somehow kept the temperature perfect and the scenery breathtaking. Perhaps that was the Fairy Godmother's doing. Whatever the cause, Evie was not complaining. All that rain on the Isle was torture on her cobalt blue tresses.

Today was a day like any other in Auradon. It was just before lunchtime on Friday and Evie had a free period. She sat in the courtyard, sprawled out on the green green grass, soaking up the sunshine. She would never get enough of this weather.

Once again, for the millionth time since the coronation three months ago, she found herself immensely grateful that she had chosen good, chosen to stay in Auradon and decide her own destiny. And she was even more grateful that she wasn't alone in that decision and that her friends were there beside her.

Presently, her friends were all in class, not fortunate enough to have the same free period as she did. After the chiming bells of Auradon Prep released them, they would all eat lunch together at the picnic tables not far from her spot. Until then, Evie had an hour or so to kill alone.

She found herself smiling as she pulled out her Chemistry textbook and began to work on her homework. It wasn't due until Monday, but who wanted to work on homework on the weekend when there were so many other great things to do? Evie didn't mind the homework anyway, in fact, she kind of enjoyed it.

She was surprisingly good at Chemistry when she set aside her mirror, and it made her feel smart to learn and understand what the teacher was saying. She was actually really good at all of her subjects, in part because Doug would help her study, but also because she had finally started to believe that she was intelligent. The more she believed, the more results she saw in her grades.

"Hey Eves, whatcha doin?" Evie heard a familiar deep voice call from above her. She couldn't help but be startled - she wasn't expecting anyone for at least a half hour and it wasn't like many Auradon kids had warmed up to them enough to randomly say hello.

A look directly above her revealed long dark hair framing a tan face, grinning down at her and blocking the sun.

"Jay, you scared me!" she scolded as the teen settled into the grass beside her.

He shot her his cheeky boyish grin he was so famous for and reached a hand over to mess up her perfect blue curls, "My bad."

"Jayyyy!" she whined as she swatted away his quick hand. "What have I told you about messing up my hair?"

"Not to?" he quipped with his grin wider than ever.

"No," Evie smiled mischievously, "That next time I'd get you back!"

The bluenette suddenly extended her hand toward Jay's long locks, but the tourney player's reflexes were far faster and he caught her wrist in his right hand with ease. Anticipating this, Evie rose up to her knees and sent her opposite hand toward his head instead, squealing in laughter. The cocky certainty in the boy's dark eyes flashed and he leaned backwards to catch her other hand in his own. However, this successful block couldn't stop the girl's momentum and she was suddenly falling forward without balance. Having both his hands otherwise occupied, Jay couldn't stop gravity from sending them both to the ground and in a second his back was flat against the grass and Evie was directly on top of him, her hands still locked in his grip, unable to catch herself.

Her giggles vibrated against his chest and he began laughing along with her. She leaned up on her elbows to meet his eyes and her blue curls fell down around his shoulders. Through her laughter she realized their close proximity; she could count the faint freckles across his cheeks and she recognized the scent of him- a mix of the leather he loved to wear and something spicy she couldn't quite place.

"Geez, Eves, tackle me why don't you?" he huffed, his grin mocking her.

"Hey, this is your fault! You literally brought this on yourself!" she said indignantly, though she could still hear the laughter in her tone. "And what are you doing here anyway? Don't you have class?"

"My teacher let us out a bit early." She could hear the excitement in his words. Evie knew that Jay wasn't a fan of classes, especially not on a Friday. Early dismissals were probably the highlight of his day.

"Geez, how early did he dismiss you?" It couldn't be more than twenty minutes into the fifty minute class period.

"Ten minutes," he said, a knowing smile playing at his lips.

"Ten? But isn't it only…" she scrunched her forehead in confusion and then her eyes found the watch around Jay's wrist still clutching her own. "Oh my goodness, where did the time go?!"

"Well, I'm betting you got caught up in your homework again and lost track of time?" Jay chuckled underneath her and she felt her whole body shake. She'd forgotten she was still on top of him. How had she become so comfortable?

His words registered in her brain and she looked away guiltily. This only made his laughter increase, knowing he had been right in his speculation.

"Seriously, Eves? On a Friday?! You're such a nerd!" Jay mocked her with delight, earning himself a glare, the fierceness of it counteracted by the smile she was fighting.

"Shut up!" she moaned, biting back the smile he was bringing to her face. He always made her laugh when he was poking fun at her. She knew he was only playing, but he was probably right about her nerd label.

"Who would've thought little airhead Evie from the Isle would turn out to be such a smarty pants?" Jay said. His words were derogatory to the outside listener, but Evie knew him enough to understand the compliment. She felt herself swell with pride, bright and glowing.

"Well, I'm still pretty air-headed," she amended, knowing it to be true. She was getting the books but often the most obvious social interaction went right over her head.

She laughed a bit after her statement, dropping her eyes from Jay's gaze. Evie was never one to overstate herself. Her mother made sure of that after all those years reprimanding.

"You say that like its a bad thing," Jay responded, his voice somehow deeper and softer. Evie's eyes snapped back up to his expression. His boyish grin had settled into something gentler and the evident affection in his eyes made her heartbeat thrum in her ears.

She was about to ask him what he meant by that when the sound of someone clearing their throat with purpose startled her out of her reverie. "Ahem. Evie?"

She knew that voice...Doug.

Jay heard him too and sat up, bringing Evie up to her knees between his parted legs. As soon as she was vertical again she flipped her head around to see Doug standing before them, eyeing the pair with some kind of annoyance.

"Doug!" She said with surprise, her voice colored with the embarrassment of the inexplicably intimate moment. Why was she embarrassed? She hadn't done anything wrong, right? The whole thing was just friendly teasing. Nothing new.

She shook it off and went to stand and greet Doug, hoping he would also breeze past this awkwardness. It wasn't until this moment, when she tried to move, that she realized her wrists were still being held captive. Jay hadn't released them from his firm hold. Why hadn't she noticed that? It didn't seem that Jay had noticed either. His touch felt strangely comfortable on her skin.

Realizing Doug's patience was wearing thin by the second, she shook those odd thoughts away and focused.

"Jay," she said discreetly, turning her attention toward him.

In the moment before she said his name she caught the severe change in his expression from when he was looking at her earlier. The laughing smile had been traded for a grim line and his eyes were holding a similar irritation to Doug's. The difference between the two was startling.

At the sound of his name Jay looked back to her and she watched as he masked his annoyance with indifference. When she had his gaze Evie nodded down to his coiled hands, which had become increasingly tighter with Doug's presence.

With the attention drawn to her hands, Evie watched Jay's eyes widen in understanding, but there was no embarrassment like she felt. Jay simply released one of her hands, and instead of letting her use the other to get up he pushed himself off the ground and brought her with him.

As she stood Evie casually let their hands drop and hoped no one would acknowledge the weirdness. This whole situation was just becoming unbearably uncomfortable and she had no idea why.

"I'm going to find the others and get some food. I'll see you there, Evie. Doug." Jay muttered, striding past Doug without so much as a glance.

Evie watched him go for a moment, frowning in confusion. What had just happened? That was so unlike Jay. She knew he never cared much for Doug, and she didn't ever know why, but it had never come to rudeness. Again, Evie determined that she didn't have the time to ponder her friend's strange behavior as Doug was likely feeling shortchanged.

She replaced her frown with a bright smile and skipped over to Doug.

"Hey, sorry about that. How are you?" She said softly. She added a twirl of her hair around her finger for good measure because she knew that made him oddly dazed and confused.

"Erm..I-" Doug stuttered, the annoyed expression melting away to something more like dumbfounded. It took a moment for him to find words again. "I'm fine. Good. Uh, do you want to get lunch?"

"Yes, of course." Evie replied with the happiness she felt. Evie and Doug weren't dating in any certain terms, but they had spent a lot of time together over the past few months and he really made her feel happy.

No, he wasn't a prince, but since the coronation and her split from her mother that detail didn't seem as important. Like Mal said, Evie was talented enough that she didn't need some prince to marry her. Yes, a castle would be nice, she would admit (who wouldn't?) but all she really needed was someone good.

And Doug was good. He was nice. He pushed her to do well, to perform and excel in ways she never thought she could.

Maybe soon he would make their relationship official. She knew he liked her, and she understood his hesitation to start anything after the chaos of the coronation, but according to all her magazines he should've asked her by now. She worried that she was doing something wrong, that maybe she still wasn't good enough for him.

"Are you ready, Evie?" Doug's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. He was holding her black bag of textbooks and offering her his hand.

"Yes, I'm ready." She smiled and took his hand as they went to meet her friends.

* * *

 ** _Okay, there it is. Phew, this has been a long time coming and I can't believe its out there. Hope you all like it!_ **

_**\- m.g.**_


	2. TWO: do you need to see the nurse?

_**Hey, people. :)**_

 _ **I'm so pleased with how many people reviewed and followed and read! I love when people engage with the author and give their thoughts, so keep it up!**_

 _ **This chapter is told from Jay's perspective which was a real challenge for me. First of all, I'm a girl and I don't really know how guys brains work so I'm just making it up. :) And also I'm struggling with not making this story too dramatic too quickly, because I love me some drama ;)**_ _ **. I feel like everything I write is either super mundane or crazy dramatic, lol. Anybody else have this issue?**_

 _ **Anyway, read & review, friends! **_

* * *

You know me, not the type of guy

To stick around, to do the time

 **TWO: "do you need to see the nurse?"**

Jay was trying not to be too brooding at lunch, really, he was. And if he didn't focus much on Evie and Doug then he mostly succeeded. He felt a bit guilty about it, because Evie didn't deserve to worry about his moodiness...and he supposed Doug didn't either. He should just let them be.

Should.

Jay couldn't really explain his behavior. He couldn't truly give a reason why he just didn't like this whole Evie/Doug combination. Most of the time he was able to brush of his annoyance without much attention toward it. People just expected a villain's kid to be a bit angry and he didn't need a excuse for it. Today, though, he'd made it clear that Doug pissed him off and he was sure Evie was confused and would want an explanation.

He just didn't have one to give her. This wasn't because he felt anything more than friendship for his blue haired friend. It wasn't.

It was Doug. He just couldn't stand him. Plain and simple. He found the shrimpy kid annoying, spineless, disloyal and weak. Not nearly good enough for someone like Evie. Or someone like...Mal. Just not good enough for any of his friends, period.

Ben and Mal were a different story. Jay believed Ben was a good person - genuine, kind, trustworthy, and he made a good king and treated Mal like she was sent from heaven. He didn't consider her past every time he spoke to her and he didn't judge her for where she came from or how she was raised.

Maybe that's why he didn't like Doug. Doug was constantly bringing up the island, and how terrible things were for them, and how great it was that they could overcome it - as long as they worked hard enough to prove themselves. If he had to hear one more time how Evie had to do well at school because looks weren't everything like they were for her mother on the Isle, he swore he would start punching the kid repeatedly.

Call it rebellion against his upbringing, but Jay now believed that shaming someone, even to get them to do the right thing, had no place in a good relationship.

Doug shamed Evie all the time - and she had no idea. Jay found it heartbreaking, listening to him talk at her and her take it down like he was a professor of goodness. He made her try so hard and never accepted her for who she was. Jay accepted her, wholly and entirely, flaws and all. And so did Mal, Carlos, and Ben. That's what friendship should be.

At lunch today Doug was in his usual form - spouting off endlessly about his great grades, all the teachers who just adored him, and most importantly, how much Evie needed to improve her GPA (whatever the hell that was). Jay was sitting far on the opposite side of the lunch table from the couple and yet he still found himself attempting to stifle down a lot of hostility toward the boy. Doug had literally not stopped talking for a good fifteen minutes and Evie was just staring at him with her brown doe eyes like he'd hung the moon.

It made Jay sick.

"So Evie, I'm going home to see my parents this weekend so I won't be around. I would've invited you, but you know, I figured it would make you uncomfortable since you can't be around your parents." Jay rolled his eyes and felt his grip on his fork tighten unintentionally.

"Right, of course," Evie replied in a breathy voice. Jay didn't dare look at her because he knew the way she was looking at Doug would just piss him off even more.

Mal, Ben, and Carlos had pretty much started their own conversation after they realized Doug wasn't going to include them, but Jay found it hard to even engage with his friends. He didn't understand why this was so difficult for him to manage. He wasn't an angry person, not even on the island. He was always able to brush off the bad with his cool demeanor, even when things were at their very worst. Auradon was supposed to be easy to handle, but instead Jay was barely in control, and for a guy who used to specialize in manipulating others that fact scared him more than he would ever admit.

With his thoughts hung up on Evie, and then tangled in why exactly this thing with Evie was driving him so crazy, Jay was doing very little eating during this lunch. As a heavily worked athlete these days, eating was an important part of his lifestyle and honestly, the vast amounts of food made available to him was one of his favorite things about Auradon. This was common knowledge among the group of friends which is why it was Jay's full plate of uneaten food that brought Carlos' attention.

"Uh, Jay? You feeling okay, bro?" Carlos asked his roommate with concern, finally taking note of the scowl planted firmly in his features.

At this question, everyone's attention snapped to Jay. Even Doug trailed off; that is, after he realized Evie was no longer listening to him and instead had her eyes trained on Jay.

"Of course, man. Why wouldn't I be?" Jay refused to meet any of the others' eyes, instead pretending that Carlos alone wanted the answer and that his friends weren't also looking at him with obvious concern and confusion.

Carlos looked like he didn't believe Jay, which was unsurprising. He hadn't exactly put a lot of convincing into his tone and he barely made the scowl on his face lighten up. Carlos looked anxiously to his friends for guidance, but they all were just as confused. Jay didn't behave like this. If there was something bothering him, he addressed it.

"Well, you haven't touched your food, unless you count stabbing your chicken. And your fork is bent in half." Jay looked down to his plate - his chicken breast had a series of small fork shaped holes in it and the utensil in his grip had an awkward bend that wasn't there before. When had he done that?

He dropped it unceremoniously on his tray of food, the clink oddly loud at the silent picnic table. Jay sighed, figuring this day was pretty much a wash as far as acting normal around the couple was concerned. He wasn't hungry either, so sticking around seemed pretty pointless. Maybe what he needed was some alone time to straighten out his head, or at least release his anger.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. I guess I'm not really feeling so great. I'm just gonna go lie down for awhile or something," Jay muttered, standing from the table.

"Do you need to see the nurse?" That was Evie's voice and that recognition made it easier for Jay to look up from the table with an even-tempered expression.

The bluenette was looking at him with worry, her brown eyes wide and her pink lips in a frown. Jay didn't like to worry her, not over something like this. He felt stupid for letting this get out of hand.

"No, Eves, I'm fine. It's just a headache," he assured her. It wasn't totally a lie - being around Doug had given him a headache, but that was only because he couldn't stand him, not for any real medical reason. Going to the nurse wouldn't do him any good.

Evie didn't look satisfied with his answer, but he managed to smile at her, genuinely, and she didn't push him.

"I'll see you later," he promised, mostly to Evie, but the rest of his friends said goodbye too.

As Jay made his trek across the picturesque campus of Auradon Prep, he felt his anger lifting off his shoulders. Even being out of the presence of the couple made him feel less tense. Still, he couldn't get himself back to normal, fun-loving Jay, and the headache was still a dull pain in between his eyes.

A few minutes later he got back to the dorm room he shared with Carlos. He flung his backpack to the floor and flopped onto his big fluffy bed. How had today gotten so messed up so quickly? His classes were boring, of course, but he didn't have much homework for the weekend, his teacher let his class out early, and being on the lawn with Evie was pretty great. How had he spiraled into anger in a matter of minutes? Why did he have to let this one thing get under his skin so easily?

Jay slammed his fist into his pillow, now only angry at himself for being so weak willed. Why couldn't he just get over it?

Realizing that laying on his bed agonizing about it was only going to make it worse, Jay decided to go for a run instead. Those always seemed to clear his cluttered head. He got up, took off his school clothes and put on a t-shirt, athletic shorts, and his tourney shoes. With a few deft motions and an elastic he tied his long hair back in a bun to keep it out of the way. He didn't mind it down during tourney because of the helmet, but working out with it down otherwise felt like he was getting suffocated. Reluctantly he stretched his muscles a bit, the warnings of injury from his coach ringing in his head, and then he was out of the castle like lightening.

He was in the woods past the tourney field in a matter of minutes - especially fast since all the other students were already in their next class, the one he was electing not to attend. He knew Evie would probably scold him for skipping, even for a headache, but he didn't mind. His blue haired friend was kind of cute when she was angry.

Okay, so the whole clearing his head of Evie objective of the run was so far unsuccessful. Jay couldn't much help the fact that almost everything made him think about her. She was pretty much his best friend, after all. They'd always been connected, but the last few months since Auradon, since the coronation, they'd become each other's closest friends. How that had happened, not even Jay knew. Like the best things, one day it just was.

Jay ran for awhile before his mind finally felt at ease. Surrounding himself with the positive thoughts of his friends, Auradon, and Evie (not Doug) made it easy to feel himself again.

This anger was not his normal, no, but it began to make more sense when he realized why he was angry and not just at who. Jay was a protective person by nature, especially now at Auradon seeing as that was one of the few 'good' personality traits that his teachers actually wanted develop. His anger was an indication of that protective instinct. Yes, Jay could think of a laundry list of reasons to be angry at Doug, but it all came down to the fact that Jay believed Doug would hurt Evie and Jay wanted above all to protect his friends from any pain.

Evie in pain wouldn't compute in Jay's head; he rejected the idea with such force that he physically stumbled in his stride despite his athletic dexterity. He was really glad no one was around to see that.

Jay felt relieved that things were finally making sense to him again. No, nothing felt resolved because Evie would still be seeing Doug and therefore Jay would be forced to interact with him if he wanted to be around Evie (and he did), but Jay now understood how to manage his anger. As long as he could keep reassuring himself that Evie was safe and happy, he could manage to act like the fun-loving, goofy, charismatic Jay he really was. That couldn't be that hard, unless of course Doug did something supremely stupid to put himself in danger of Jay's rage.

But hey, Doug was supposed to be smart, right?

* * *

 _ **Alright, so not a lot happened in this chapter, but the next one will be up soon!**_

 ** _\- m.g._**


	3. THREE: you'll tutor me?

_**I'm back, babes. :) Sorry for the absence, but how does two chapters in twenty-four hours sound as a forgive-me? Get ready for some 'subtle' flirting and an educational proposition in this next chapter. Actually, though, this chapter is a little lacking so you should go ahead and reread the last one to get you excited for tomorrow's update. ;)**_

* * *

Years flew by

I was less than twelve

Long division

I need your help

 **Chapter 3: "you'll tutor me?"**

Evie's Friday continued normally after lunch, aside from the little itch in the back of her mind that told her something wasn't quite right with Jay.

It bothered her so much that she decided that she would ask him about it, just to make sure they were okay and she hadn't done anything to upset him. She was already planning on bringing him the homework he'd missed from the classes she was sure he skipped this afternoon, and she knew him well enough to bet he wasn't going to skip tourney practice and that she could catch him on the field after it finished. Maybe if Carlos, Ben and his other teammates weren't around he'd open up about his weird mood with her then.

It didn't take her very long to convince Jay's teachers of some excuse for why he was absent. They'd all learned that if they pulled the 'villain's kid' card they could pretty much get by on pity. Maybe that was a little wrong, but in this case, Evie knew that Jay's teachers wouldn't accept him being sick unless he'd gone to the nurse, which he hadn't. She also knew that Jay had way too many absences already. One more without cause and they would probably give him a week's detention. Even though Evie disapproved of cutting classes, and Jay would get an earful about it from her later, sitting through detention was something she'd gladly help any of her friends avoid if she could.

The walk to the tourney field was nice, the sky a perfect blue and the sun warm on her skin. Once again, she so loved Auradon for this reason.

Arriving at the field she spotted Jay immediately, not only because she knew he was number eight, but also because he was the only one with black hair flying out from underneath his helmet. She got there just as he sent another player flying over his shoulder with a tackle and then passed the ball to a player she was pretty sure was Ben. Honestly, Jay was the only one who she could really keep track of out there.

Since it seemed like practice was pretty far from over, Evie decided to settle into the bleachers and watch, or do homework, until they finished. She didn't have anywhere else to be until dinner anyway and she wanted to catch Jay right away.

After she found a seat midway up the metal bleachers, Evie pulled out her history textbook from her bag. Jay's stack of homework came with it since Evie had just tucked it in her bag without looking. She moved to set it aside on the bleacher next to her, but something stopped her - a bright red 'D' written on the top corner of a blue test booklet.

Evie couldn't help but balk. Jay was smart, he couldn't be doing that poorly, right? She knew it was an invasion of his privacy, but Evie couldn't help but examine his test. It was in Chemistry, her best subject, and judging by what she saw Jay was seriously struggling. He had attempted everything but most things were just a little miscalculated, or he used the wrong formula. Why hadn't he told her he was having trouble?

The back page had his grade again and then a note from the teacher. It said Jay was in danger of failing the course and suggested he seek a tutor. Hmm, a tutor…

"Evie!" A voice shouted from the field below her, startling her from her thought.

The blue haired girl looked up to see her three athlete friends waving at her from the bottom of the stands. Practice had ended and the other players were venturing toward the locker room.

She waved, smiling bright. "I brought your homework!" She yelled back to Jay, a hand cupped around her mouth for volume.

Carlos and Ben laughed at Jay as he responded with a twisted look of disgust. Evie rolled her eyes at his antics and his face changed to his typical grin. She watched as Carlos said something to Jay too quiet for her to hear so far away, and Jay promptly shoved him toward the locker room as he and Ben laughed at him. Altogether Jay looked significantly better than at lunch.

"See you later, Evie!" Carlos called to her as he waved.

She waved back and then saw that Jay was climbing up the bleachers to where she was sitting, sweat and all.

"Whoa, stop right there!" Evie said, threateningly. It seemed to work, Jay froze in a step, eyes looking up to her in confusion.

"I'm not letting you near me smelling the way you do right now!" She was serious, but smiling anyway. She couldn't smell him from where she was sitting just yet, but judging by the way his hair was matted to his neck, his jersey was soaked against his chest, his tanned arms glistened with sweat… Wait, what was her point? She suddenly felt her face flush inexplicably.

Jay was grinning at her with his unique brand of mischief when she reassembled her train of thought. "Why, I don't have any idea what you're talking about," he said, his tone mocking disbelief. "I smell fresh as a daisy."

With each word he made slow, menacing, steps closer to her and her she edged further away from him. "No. You stink. Stop coming closer!"

"What? But I just want to come hug my best friend!" Jay said in the same faux innocent manner. She knew he was going to get her all gross and stinky with his sweat. He was halfway to her and Evie stood on her bleacher to jump one up away from him. He would not ruin her white blouse.

She halted for a moment at his words, the label. Why she really his best friend? He didn't seem to get hung up on the word. The thought made her smile.

"Well, your best friend isn't coming near you until you shower!" She responded, her voice high with laughter and fear.

"Jay! Don't do it! I'm serious!" She tried to shout with warning, but it sounded more like whining. She hopped up another two levels of bleachers as he approached.

Apparently the image of her running up the bleachers away from him in only her tights (she'd ditched the heels when she first walked up the structure) was too much for Jay. He doubled over laughing, hanging on to the railing for support.

"Okay, okay, you win," he conceded, still laughing. "I'll go shower. You just sit down before you hurt yourself."

Evie stuck out her tongue in response and he returned the gesture. Jay's lack of maturity sometimes really rubbed off on her.

As soon as he was a reasonable distance away and she was sure he wasn't going to come bounding back up the stands to smother her, Evie returned to her place. She found herself smiling at Jay's actions, as usual, and she could see his shoulders still shaking with laughter as he jogged toward the locker room. He seemed entirely back to his typical demeanor - not at all angry and annoyed like earlier.

It didn't take long for Jay to shower and in the meantime Evie decided she would offer Jay her services in his Chemistry class. She definitely wouldn't do his work, like she stupidly did for Chad, but she knew she could help him out. She needed to approach this carefully, though. It wasn't really her business and she didn't want him to feel stupid.

"Please don't tell me you're doing homework again." She heard Jay before she saw him. "We seriously need to find you another hobby."

She smiled at him as he made his way to sit beside her. He'd changed into a black t-shirt and jeans and his dark hair was down around his shoulders, wet from the showers.

He leaned in close to her, the dampness from his hair brushing her shoulder. "Do I smell good enough to be near you now?"

She made a point of sniffing him, crinkling her nose. He smelled...manly, for lack of a better word. There was something of a leathery scent, and then something fresh like soap. Evie had to admit he smelled really good...but she didn't have to admit it to him.

"Barely."

He leaned away, laughing at her sassy response. "So what's the damage to my weekend?"

She handed him the homework, keeping the blue test booklet in her lap. Jay flipped through the sheets of assignments, sighing.

"And there's also this," she said quickly, handing it over. "Which I didn't mean to see, but then I did and I was so shocked so I looked through it and your teacher thinks you should have a tutor and I'm pretty good at chemistry so I thought I could help if you want."

Jay went through a cycle of emotions as Evie spoke all of those words out in a single breath. Embarrassment, confusion, and relief all passed through his features.

"Wait - you'll tutor me?"

Evie cocked her head to the side, giving him an incredulous expression. "Of course, I will."

Then all the sudden Jay had flung his arms around her and hugged her tight to his chest. "You're amazing! Thank you!"

His hair was wet and tickled her face as he squeezed her close against him. She laughed at the feeling and his overzealous reaction. With her laugh she unintentionally got a breath full of whatever that boy put in his hair - it was like heaven. Her head started spinning, surrounded by the scent of him and oh goodness, what was happening?!

She tried to pull away as a knee jerk reaction, but he had her arms locked in his embrace. Thankfully he understood what her leaning back meant and released her immediately. She quickly inhaled and felt her thoughts straighten with her literal breath of fresh air.

What the heck just happened? Was that how he got all those admirers? His amazing smell? Surely not, but...

When she looked back at Jay he didn't seem to notice her odd behavior. She tried to remember what they were talking about to pull herself together.

"Um, but… I don't understand. Why didn't you just ask me to help you in the first place?" Good, okay, get your head on straight.

He looked away, embarrassed. Evie marveled at how rarely she saw that look on him. "Well, pretty much failing a class isn't something I'm very proud of. I was going to ask you the next time we were alone because I don't want anyone else knowing, but the timing was just never right."

Evie nodded, understanding him not wanting people to know. He was a pretty proud person.

"I'm so glad you saw this. Just today Coach told me I need to get the grade up quick or he's going to bench me." His brow furrowed in worry, and she suddenly realized that she hadn't seen him wear that expression recently either.

"Don't worry. You can do this. I'll make sure of it." She smiled brightly at him, her contagious smile spreading to him. "Also, just so you know you had to miss class today because your dad needed to speak with you."

Jay chuckled, and Evie then noticed his arm was still slung over her shoulders casually. Had that always been there? "Thanks. Ah, good old pops. He's doing me better behind the barrier than he ever did when I lived with him."

"I think we could all say that," Evie agreed.

They sat in silence for a moment, thinking of how different life was now. Evie felt content, peaceful, sitting with Jay and watching the sun set across the tourney field. Happiness filled her with a warmth - or was that just Jay so close to her?

Evie noticed the weight of his touch now, across her shoulders, down her side - she felt her head start to twirl again. Doug never got this close to her. He never broke personal boundaries. Lately, Jay seemed to forget they even existed.

Evie felt the sudden need to interrupt the moment. She cleared her throat and sat up taller. Her movement let Jay's arm fall and her brain registered the loss of contact. "So, I'm getting that you feel better? Did your headache go away?"

He ducked his head to the left, away from her eyes. "Uh, yeah. I went for a run. That helped. I just needed to clear my head."

"Wow, a run and then tourney practice? You must be beat," she said in awe. She couldn't remember the last time she went on a run. But if it made Jay feel better then it must be nice.

"Not yet. Just really hungry. You ready to go meet the others?" Jay grinned. The thought of food literally made him ecstatic. Evie giggled, but then remembered her original plan.

"Yes, but first, um…" she breathed, looking up into his dark eyes. "I just want to make sure you're really okay. Earlier today… That seemed like more than a headache, Jay. You seemed...angry. Did something happen? Did I do something to upset you or-"

"No, no, no," Jay shook his head, his brow scrunched up. He leaned toward her and touched her arm, she flickered her eyes to his hand, but didn't pull away. "It's nothing that you did. You're right. I was upset, but I got over it. I always do, you know me. Today was just a bad day is all. I'm fine. Really."

"Okay," Evie said, not entirely convinced. "But what upset you? I don't want it to happen again."

He broke their gaze this time, looking down at where he was touching her arm. He moved his hand away. "It's not important. It can't be helped. Let's just go eat, okay?"

She frowned, and she wasn't sure if it was because she knew he wasn't being completely honest or because she didn't like that he had pulled away from her. "Jay."

"Evie." He mocked her frown with one that was exaggerated, getting her to roll her eyes and laugh a little.

She sighed, searching his face for what she didn't know. "What's going on, Jay?"

"Nothing, honest! Don't worry about me, okay? You'll get wrinkles in your pretty little face," he spoke in his light hearted tone and pressed his fingertip to the center of her forehead where her worried expression had crinkled her skin. He was joking with her, but she could see something heavy behind his smile. Evie had never wished so much that she could read his mind.

She didn't feel better about the situation. Not one bit. But knowing Jay, and knowing his behavior, this was something he wanted to hold tight to, a burden he felt only he could carry. Pressing him for information would only make him lash out.

Evie rolled her eyes at him and shook his hand from her head, playing along with his silly joke. She conceded and gave a small smile in return for his efforts to lighten the mood. Eventually she would figure this all out, but not tonight. "Okay, okay. Let's go eat."

* * *

 _ **R &R, folks. **_

_**\- m.g.**_


	4. FOUR: i believe in you

_**Hello again!**_

 _ **What did I tell you, huh? Another chapter! This one's short, though, so maybe you'll get another this week... ;) Things are getting a little more obvious between our lovely couple, but of course, I've made them oblivious as usual. Enjoy!**_

* * *

Can you come on over and work with me?

Anytime you like

I'll make it work for me.

 **FOUR: "i believe in you."**

The weekend was a pretty average one for Jay and the gang. No extra tourney practice because they didn't have a game until next week and they had practiced well enough on Friday, which meant free time to hang with friends and oh yeah, homework.

Evie had given Jay Saturday to goof off, but Sunday she declared their first tutoring session would begin after lunch. Even though he loved spending time with Evie, Jay was not looking forward to it.

Eventually she was going to realize how much of an idiot he was at school. It was inevitable. Jay didn't really care about school or how well he did (as long as he could still play tourney, of course), but he cared if he looked dumb in front of someone, especially if that someone was Evie.

"Ughhhhh," Jay groaned about an hour into their first go at it. "I suck at this!"

"Hey! No, you don't!" Evie supplied, smacking his arm lightly with the back of her hand.

"Um, did you see his last test? He really does," Carlos said matter-of-factly from where he was lounged on his bed.

Both Evie and Jay shot him harsh glares from the table in the center of the dorm room that had become tutoring HQ.

"Carlos. Not helpful," Evie said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry," Carlos laughed, clearly not sorry at all. Jay hadn't shared the gravity of this grade with Carlos, not wanting to admit to anyone on the team that he might let them down. "I'm just being honest. Jay is literally the worst -"

There was a snapping sound and Jay looked down to find his wooden pencil in two pieces in his hand. The stress of this was certainly not helped by Carlos making fun of him - even if was good-natured. Carlos was smart like Evie, especially in math and science - Jay's two worst subjects.

"Okay!" Evie said in a loud, high voice. He could see she was stressing too. He should have known he was beyond help. He expected Evie to start packing up her things and apologize for being unable to help him, but instead she pulled out another pencil and held it out to him.

"You, take this and try problem number three again. This time, look at example A4 while you do it." She pointed the pencil at him and he noticed a fierceness he hadn't seen before.

"You," she turned on Carlos, this time pointing a red manicured finger at him threateningly. "Out."

"What? This is my room!" Carlos shouted defensively, though Jay could see he was a little thrown by this new side of Evie.

"I don't care! You're distracting to the educational environment! Out!" Carlos scoffed, but then Evie just stared at him, hands on her hips, until he slowly gave in. Jay just watched in awe.

"Come on, Dude," Carlos pouted and slouched out of the dorm, his loyal dog hot on his heels.

Evie sighed in relief, her authoritative manner fading a bit. "That's better. Now have you finished the problem?"

Jay looked down to his book frantically. He hadn't even started it yet. He'd been too busy watching her. He ran a hand roughly through his hair for what felt like the millionth time as it felt forward into his view.

"I'll take that as a no," Evie giggled, dropping her commanding facade and looking at him sympathetically. "Let me help solve this problem first."

He watched as she retrieved something from her purse and disappeared behind him.

"What -" he began to question her but stopped as he felt her hands in his hair. The words tumbled out of his head and instead his only thought was how much he really liked the feeling of her fingers pulling back his hair from his face. He felt himself freeze, like the inexplicably electric feeling of her running her hands through his hair had immobilized him somehow.

He knew in a moment that she had taken this to mean he was uncomfortable because she hurried her movements and quickly tied his hair up into a bun at the nape of his neck with the hair tie she had taken from her bag. He wished desperately that he hadn't stiffened up. He...He kind of wanted her to do that again.

Was that weird? No one had ever touched his hair other than him, at least not like that. He'd had his hair yanked, he'd even been pulled up by it in a fight once, but never had anyone touched his hair to tie it back for him. Never as a gesture of kindness…

"Th-Thanks," he stuttered out with a shaky voice. He rolled his eyes at his own awkwardness. It would only be weird if he made it weird, and he was making it weird!

Evie laughed off hand, but it was breathy and nervous. He knew she was embarrassed. He wanted to set it straight, that she wasn't at all out of line, but he knew that he would only make things weirder.

"So...the problem! Get to it!" Evie said with relief coloring her usual cheeriness. She was probably glad for something to redirect them.

It took him a minute, but he came up with something of an answer. He had zero confidence it was correct, but that was nothing new.

Evie looked it over, her red painted nails coming up to touch her lips in concentration. He watched on, discouraged at the way her eyebrows furrowed up.

"It's wrong, isn't it? Ugh, this is hopeless! I can't-"

She cut him off with her hand flying from her mouth to his shoulder. "Wait! Yes, it's wrong. But you only made one small mistake that changed your answer!"

She scooted closer to him in excitement and he glanced up at her face to see a beautiful smile blossoming.

"See, you just forgot to convert back to joules here! So go back and make the conversion then run it back through the equation like you did. Go, go, go!" Evie spoke quickly - she was strangely excited by this - but he understood her commands.

He followed them as fast as he could and realized that this answer made more sense. With each number he wrote down he heard Evie make a small noise of affirmation - uh-huh, mm-hmm - to let him know he was doing it right.

When he finished he slid the paper to her even though she'd been looking over his shoulder the whole time.

"Yes! You got it!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"I did?" Jay echoed, dumbfounded. Getting things wrong had just become the norm for him.

"Yes. See, you can do this!" Evie grabbed his hand, squeezing it tight with her excitement. Jay catches himself stumbling at her touch - the softness of her hand, the warmth sizzling under his skin - the feeling wasn't new but always mystified him. Her hand was gone in the next moment and Jay's thoughts went with it. She cleared her throat. "Now onto the next problem."

They continued this way, mostly successful for another half hour. At that point Evie determined that Jay adequately understood that type of problem and moved them onto the next formula he struggled with. Then things took another turn for the worse.

"Arghhh!" Jay growled in anger, slamming his textbook closed and shaking the table. Evie flinched next to him at his outburst and he instantly felt guilt seep into his rage.

"Jay…" She said softly, her voice filled not with apprehension but comfort. Jay felt her hand come to rest on his shoulder, natural as ever, followed by the feeling of his anger deflating like a slit tire.

"I'm sorry," he sighed, his head falling into his hands. "I'm just not getting any of this. You're wasting your time."

"You are getting this, Jay!" She insisted, pulling his shoulder back so he was no longer leaning on the table. "We've only been working for a couple of hours and you made a lot of progress. So, you're not good at chemistry - that just means you have to work harder and that's what you're doing! You'll get your grade up, Jay. I know you will."

He met her eyes, bright and passionate. "You do?"

"Of course, I do. I believe in you," she said with conviction, like it was the most obvious fact in the world. Jay felt something unfamiliar stir in his chest.

"You've got a test soon and I know you will pass it. I believe you could even get an A if you put the work in. You can do this. I wouldn't be putting my time and energy into tutoring you if I didn't believe that."

Jay couldn't understand the feeling building within him at that moment. It was so foreign, unlike anything he'd ever known. What he did know was that Evie was looking into his eyes with such faith, such certainty, that he wanted more than anything the world to make her proud, to prove her right.

"Okay," he responded after an immeasurably long moment spent looking at his best friend. "Let's get to work."

* * *

 _ **Ooooohhhhh. Okay, actually not that exciting, but still! We're moving in the right direction, are we not? Give me your thoughts!**_

 _ **\- m.g.**_


	5. FIVE: is everything okay?

_**Guys, I got a new job! Which means, among other things, I have more time to write!**_

* * *

And I know right now

You got second thoughts

 **FIVE: "is everything okay?"**

Evie worked with Jay until dinner Sunday, and then returned to it after dinner with Carlos, Mal and Ben, and then kept at it until nearly curfew that night. Evie had intended to leave much earlier and didn't want to make Jay miserable with so much work, but he had been the one to ask her to stay for just one more hour about five times. She was pleasantly surprised by his determination and sticktoitiveness and hoped that he carried it through the next couple of weeks. If he did, his grade would be up in no time, without a doubt.

Jay had really displayed a different side with this tutoring endeavor. For one, Evie had never seen her friend reveal even an ounce of self doubt before and he had all but given up concerning his grades until she interfered and encouraged him. It was strange to see him uncertain of himself - he was always confident, bordering on arrogant. But then again, she'd never heard him talk about classes or homework and until tourney he never really had a reason to succeed. Now that he was in danger of losing something he cared about he was showing a kind of drive that she'd never seen.

Evie woke to her alarm that Monday morning (tweeting birds) feeling excited to see Jay and check in on his progress. She'd gotten used to being the only one that really cared about school out of the four and a change sounded exciting. Doug was always the one she shared her good grades with and -

Oh, Doug would be back at school today! How had she forgotten? She realized with chagrin that she hadn't even thought about him once over the weekend. She'd been so wrapped up in helping Jay that everything else had slipped her mind. Maybe he'd be at breakfast and they could eat together.

"Good morning!" Evie chirped to her roommate - or the lump of covers that occupied her roommate's bed.

The response was an angry groan and slight movement of the lump. Evie took this as a good sign. Mal was particularly awful in the morning and Evie had learned to mostly let her be, for her own safety. This growl had progressed from her previous reaction of throwing the nearest object in Evie's direction. Even with her eyes closed Mal had good aim with an alarm clock.

Evie got ready for the day in the bathroom adjoined to the dorm room. A pretty white blouse with short sleeves and a ruffled blue mini skirt made her outfit - both articles made by herself, of course. She added a long necklace with a red heart, black stockings, and a red leather belt around her middle. Her hair curled into her shiny blue curls, Evie happily pinned in her favorite gold crown headband. Why fuss with a tried and true beauty?

She kept her makeup pretty tame - that seemed to be the fashion in Auradon. A subtle smoky eye, some pink lipgloss and she was pretty much ready to go.

She ventured out to the dorm room again and put on her black leather booties. Mal was now in an upright position in her bed, purple hair a tornado around her face, but her eyes were still closed.

"Hello, gorgeous," Evie chuckled at her friend.

"Can it," Mal retorted, blindly pointing a threatening finger in Evie's direction. Her voice sounded like sandpaper and Evie couldn't help but laugh again.

"I'm going to breakfast, okay? See you there!" Evie quickly grabbed her purse and books and scampered out the door before Mal could get crabbier. By the time Mal would get to breakfast she would be back to her normal level of crabby which was just how Evie liked it.

Evie walked down the dorm halls to the cafeteria, smiling and waving at the students she passed. Some of them returned the gestures but others avoided her altogether. Unfortunately there were still some students that resented the villains' kids for lying to them last semester and you know, trying to hand over their livelihood to the villains and plunge the entire kingdom into evil. As much as Evie wanted their forgiveness and acceptance, she really could understand the hesitation.

Evie helped herself to some strawberries and a bagel and a coffee at the dining line, trying to move quickly. Reaching the courtyard full of picnic tables, Evie instantly looked for Doug and his bow tie and sweater vest. They usually sat by the tree in the corner but he was nowhere in sight. After combing through the crowd a second time Evie caught a glimpse of him at a table in the center of the courtyard. She thought she caught his eye so she waved and smiled, but he swiftly turned his head the other direction. Had he not seen her?

Evie weaved her way over to where he was, noting that Chad and Audrey were also there at the table. As she approached, Doug suddenly found his omelet the most interesting item in the area and didn't look up once to see her.

"Doug! You're back!" Evie said with excitement as she stood in front of him.

Doug's eyes flashed up to her in what looked like panic and then he looked away again. "Evie! Um, hi."

She expected more of a greeting so the silence between them lasted a moment longer than normal. Evie shifted her tray and nodded to the empty expanse of bench across from him. "Can I join you?"

Suddenly Audrey's pink manicured hand was resting flat on the seat she was referring to. Her sickly sweet voice spoke with a matching smile, "Actually, this seat is saved. Sorry!"

Evie looked down in embarrassment - a force of habit around Audrey and her demanding presence. "Oh. Okay, well, Doug do you want to come sit with me? You can tell me about your weekend."

She sounded more uncertain with each sentence. Why was she feeling nervous?

A snide scoff from Chad brought the young royal to her attention. They were certainly not on kind terms since the family weekend debacle - none of them could shake the cruel words he threw at them unapologetically. "Yeah, Doug, why don't you tell her about your weekend?"

Evie was confused by the sarcasm in his tone and the smirk he exchanged with Audrey. Something was up. Something not at all good.

Doug fidgeted but didn't respond to Chad, rather he looked her in the eye. "Um, I think I'm just going to stay here, if that's okay," he said flatly without excuse or explanation.

Her eyes went wide in surprise, but she felt herself nodding. Was she still smiling? She couldn't feel it. "Oh, okay, sure. I'll just...see you in class, then?"

Her voice sounded weak and lame and she felt embarrassment heat her face. Doug gave a sort of nod and returned to his fascinating breakfast food. Audrey and Chad started a conversation in hushed tones and she had a sinking feeling it was about her. That was quite enough awkward - she turned quickly and sped walked back to her usual table.

Halfway there she realized that Jay and Carlos were there now. Carlos had his back to her, but Jay had noticed her and was looking at her with thinly veiled concern. Evie tried to compose herself so he wouldn't think something was wrong, but then again, that never seemed to work on Jay.

She sat her tray on the table next to Carlos and he looked up at her and slid over on the bench. "Good morning!" She chirped with the cheerfulness that had deflated since she woke up.

"Hey," Carlos responded with a smile and nod.

Evie sat down and didn't look up to Jay, but she could feel his gaze on her. He hadn't greeted her so she decided to put more effort into being unbothered.

"Morning, Jay," she said with a smile as she met his eyes. She glanced away faster than she should have, but his eyes were so inquisitive she felt he could suddenly see right through her.

He mostly ignored her words and instead asked with suspicion, "Where's Doug?"

Evie took a sip of her coffee, trying to look more casual than she felt inside. Her stomach was swirling in worry at the way Doug had treated her. Was he angry at her for something? "He's with Chad and Audrey."

She watched Jay's eyes narrow - he wasn't particularly fond of either of them. But that wasn't saying much; Evie could probably count the people Jay was fond of on one hand.

"Ugh, why?" Carlos chimed in. Evie was startled; she'd forgotten he was there for a second.

"I don't know," Evie said indifferently, glad for the chance to be entirely honest. "He didn't say."

"Is everything okay?" Jay's voice turned her back to him; his face spoke something different than his words: 'Are you okay?' Evie wasn't sure how to answer either question truthfully.

"Mm-hmm," she managed to mumble, looking away.

Worry crept further into her gut as she remembered the way Doug looked at her. What changed? What did she do?

"Evie…" Jay said softly, warning her that he saw straight through that unconvincing reply and was beginning to worry for her. She'd heard it before, but now it only made her feel worse. She didn't want Jay to worry about something that was probably all in her head.

She looked into his eyes, directing all her attention to him, and gave him a smile. "It's fine, Jay. Really."

She kept his gaze while he seemed to search her face for something. She watched as he conceded to what little information she was willing to provide with an air of discontent. She suddenly wasn't sure if diverting Jay's attention made her feel better or worse about the situation.

"Good morning, friends!" A cheery male voice refocused her on the mismatched couple approaching the picnic table - one king very smiley and one roommate still looking a little grumpy about being somewhere other than her bed.

"Hey Ben. Hey Mal." Carlos greeted the pair between bites, the other two waving or nodding.

Ben and Mal were holding hands as they walked to the table and Evie thought they looked adorable. She was so happy for the two of them, and that they had stuck it out through the chaos of the last few months. They truly loved one another. Evie only hoped that she could know what that felt like one day.

The two took their places next to Jay, Ben keeping his arm around Mal's shoulders. Evie would never tell her because she'd probably punch her, but Mal was definitely blushing. As many times as Ben used a public display of affection, Mal was smitten every time and Evie could always tell. Even today, he held her hand and put his arm around her and she suddenly looked a lot less grumpy than earlier that morning - a seriously amazing feat.

"The dining room closed before we could get there. Are you gonna eat that?" Mal asked, pointing to Evie's strawberries and bagel that she'd forgotten all about.

"No, you can have it." Evie pushed the plate toward her friend. "I'm not hungry."

She knew Jay was eyeing her again, thanks to the abnormal behavior. She ignored him.

"You guys do the history homework?" Ben asked as he stole one of Mal's strawberries and she slapped his hand.

The group talked for a bit before the warning bell went off and they went their separate ways. Evie didn't have class with any of them so she said she'd see them a lunch. However, she did have English with Doug second period. Maybe he'd act more normal there without Chad or Audrey.

Evie's first class seemed to drag on. She was trying to focus on her math lesson, but every other minute her mind would switch back to recounting every detail of her interactions with Doug in the last few days. He'd seemed totally fine before the weekend, and she obviously hadn't spoken to him while he was gone. What could she have done to make him act so strangely? The only way she could get the swirling nervousness in her gut to subside was to convince herself that the weirdness was just in her head. Maybe she was just being overdramatic.

When the bell finally rang for the passing period between first and second, Evie wasn't sure if she was relieved or panicked. Either she would see Doug and get all the awkward out of the way, or she would see Doug and her worst fears would be confirmed. She packed her school supplies quickly, wanting to get either fate over with already and face the issue.

As she walked out of the classroom into the warm Auradon air, a voice startled her from behind. "So are you going to tell me why you lied to me earlier?"

Evie jumped a little, making the long haired athlete questioning her break into a small smile despite himself. Jay fell into step next to her; she looked away from him, knowing her face would betray her.

"I didn't lie to you," Evie insisted, knowing full well that he was right.

"You weren't honest with me." Jay weaved his way around her and planted himself in her path. His wide frame blocked her stride so she stumbled into his chest, forced to look up into his dark worried eyes. "I know you, Evie. You're a nervous wreck. What's wrong?"

She took a step away from him - he was close enough she could smell him and that heady feeling was starting to interrupt her thoughts. Evie breathed a frustrated sigh and tried and failed to avoid his eyes. Why did he have the ability to read her like a book?

"Nothing, I think.." She shifted her eyes away from him and when they returned she saw his doubt. "It's just...stupid. Doug was just acting weird this morning and I'm afraid he's mad at me or something's wrong. I don't know."

Jay's brow was furrowed deep in confusion. "What did he say?"

"Nothing!" Evie cried in exasperation. "He barely spoke to me. I asked him to sit with me and he didn't want to."

"Doug wouldn't talk to you? That's all that kid ever does." Jay said under his breath. Evie could hear the malice in his tone but didn't comment.

"We have class together next. I hope he's normal again." Evie chewed on her lower lip in nervousness. "I'm sure I'm just being dramatic. This is probably all in my head, right? Everything's fine. Why wouldn't everything be fine?"

"Hey, hey, hey," Jay chuckled and placed his hands on her shoulders, calming her anxious rambling. "I'm sure everything is okay. You didn't do anything wrong."

Evie took a deep breath, closing her eyes and focusing on the comforting weight of his hands. And then, in the next moment, the warning bell rang. Her eyes sprung open wide again.

"I'm gonna be late!" She turned and started scurrying down the emptying hall. She glanced over her shoulder to see Jay laughing at her, not at all bothered by the prospect of being late. "Go to class! I'll see you at lunch!"

Evie slid in the doorway of her class just as the second bell rang. She breathed a sigh of relief, and also a little of exhaustion. This classroom was on the opposite side of school then where she'd gotten distracted talking to Jay.

Remembering her original worry, her eyes darted to her usual seat, right next to Doug. She didn't know if it was because things were weird or if it was because she was later than usual, but the seat was occupied. She had a sick feeling it was the former because it was Chad who had taken her seat and she'd never seen him sit anywhere other than the back row.

Chad's usual seat was the only one left vacant, so she carefully made her way through the rows of desks to it. As she passed Doug she smiled brightly, but he maintained a stoic look to the front of class, ignoring her. She sunk into the desk with a frown, and buried herself in taking notes until the class was over.

The bell surprised her, along with the realization that she'd successfully gone a whole hour without worrying about the Doug situation. She hurried out of the room and on to her next class before she could see or think about Doug again. All she needed to worry about was her homework for next class and everything else would sort itself out, right?

The next couple of hours went by in a blur, mostly because Evie didn't have any friends in those classes and could focus exclusively on what her teacher was saying. She quickly found that keeping herself busy in class made her forget to think about the other thing.

It wasn't until she was walking to lunch that she began to worry again about Doug. They always had lunch together and for some reason Evie imagined he wouldn't show today.

Her sensibility told her to not even look for him, to march straight to her normal table where her friends would give her security. However, her anxiety got the better of her and she found herself scanning the crowds of students for Doug as she approached the dining room. Evie was sure if they could just face this, to talk about it, everything would go back to normal again - maybe even better than normal. Why was Doug avoiding her if talking through it was the only solution? Why wouldn't he even tell her what she did to upset him?

Evie made her way through the dining hall and out to the courtyard before any such opportunity presented itself. She thought for sure at that point that Doug was hiding again and she would have to just sit with her friends and find him later. In fact, she was in such close range to the table that she could see Jay take his typical seat with his tray of food. They made eye contact from across the way and his eyes scanned her expression, no doubt trying to figure out if she was feeling better or worse. She watched as his eyes shifted a little and then rolled back in annoyance. Her head tilted in confusion at the face.

"Um, Evie?" A voice belonging to Doug called from behind her and Jay's look suddenly made a little more sense.

Evie turned around quickly, trying not to look too excited or worried, or both. Keep it cool. Cool. "Doug!"

Okay, she failed.

"We need to talk," he said solemnly. Evie's heart tumbled down to somewhere around her feet and she could've sworn the courtyard got a shade darker. She didn't know much about relationships, but she knew that those were not good words to hear.

She couldn't seem to find a voice, not that he was looking for much of a response. He turned and walked back toward the school building and she followed wordlessly, hoping for the best but anticipating the worst.

* * *

 _ **R &R please!**_

 _ **\- m.g.**_


	6. SIX: what did i do wrong?

_**Okay, I know you've been waiting a while for this...and I thank you for it! Buckle up, friends. This is going to be a bumpy ride.**_

* * *

And when the waves crash down

Then baby I won't move

 **SIX: "what did i do wrong?"**

"Jay. Jay. Jay!" The last refrain finally shook Jay from his stupor as he watched the blue waves of Evie's hair disappear into the crowd with the idiot who'd caused her so much stress.

Switching back to his present company, Jay noticed Mal, Ben, and Carlos were sitting at the table in front of him. Carlos had called for his attention, probably because he was oddly standing by the table instead of sitting with them.

"What?" Jay responded quite sharply. The residual annoyance from Doug was seeping into his demeanor.

"Everything cool, man?" Carlos asked with hesitation. He knew well that Jay's temper had been like a minefield lately - one step out of line and he could blow up.

Feeling guilty for the awkwardness he had already created, he put in the effort to act casual and unbothered. "Of course, man. I just saw Evie, but she went back inside with Doug."

The words came out smoothly as he settled himself into his seat next to Ben. So smoothly, in fact that he even fooled himself into not caring about the two of them and what they could be saying or doing or where they could be doing or saying things and how quickly he could get to said place.

Sort of fooled himself anyway…

"Back inside? What, is she skipping lunch?" Mal wondered aloud.

Jay shrugged, looking nonchalant but feeling more worried than he would ever admit.

This was totally idiotic. If he was so worried about Evie, he should just go check on her. To sit here and obsess over it was only going to make him feel worse. But was that over the top? He didn't know for sure that something bad was going to happen, this was just his instinct talking. Still though, could it hurt to make sure she was okay? At least to make this itch in the back of his mind go away…

He made up his mind and told the others he had to go to the bathroom. They were already engrossed in some conversation about a movie they'd seen so they didn't mind him.

As he left the table he walked straight in the direction he'd seen Doug and Evie take. It lead back into the school building, to the few classrooms inside the grand hallway. It wasn't hard for him to figure out where they had gone from there - the vast mahogany hall was empty and completely quiet with everyone at lunch, save for a voice coming from the very last classroom in the hall.

Jay couldn't make out any words, just noise, but he could tell it was Doug's voice speaking. The kid never shut up, so it wasn't much of a surprise he recognized the nasally sounds.

Using his stealth skills acquired through the years of training under his father, Jay silently crept toward the open classroom door the voice echoed from. If he could just be reassured that everything was fine, then he wouldn't need to bother Evie. He could let it go and move on and she wouldn't even need to know he was there. As he neared, some of the words became intelligible, and the tone in Doug's voice came through crystal, confirming the worst of his intuitions:

Anger.

Jay's defensive instincts flashed, ringing through his head like an emergency alarm. Amidst his own escalating rage he started piecing together a few of the words Doug was spitting: "her daughter" "the island" "evil". As if those weren't enough to spark his temper, Jay then heard a sound beyond the words that sealed the deal - the quiet sniff of a girl crying.

Evie.

All sneaking aside, Jay was suddenly flying forward toward that sound. Evie was crying. Evie should never cry. Especially not with Doug. Especially not without him.

He closed the short distance between himself and the open door with pounding steps, loudly interrupting the conversation and bringing his wave of fury with him, as if it were an almost palpable force.

"Evie," he said, with a level of calm that only warned of the storm to follow. "What's going on here?"

His blue haired friend stood at the front of the room, her head bowed to the floor, Doug standing before her. At her name she looked up at him and he took in a sight that crushed his chest like a brick - red rimmed eyes, smudged makeup, streams of tears racing down her cheeks.

Evie was crying. His best friend was crying. The information circled in his brain again and again like a screaming siren.

Evie faced him briefly, dark brown eyes wide in surprise for a fraction of a second before turning away so quickly her blue curls twirled through the air behind her. Her back was now to both him and Doug, and he knew she was trying to hide her tears. Jay could see her hands reach up to wipe the evidence from her eyes and his protective instinct resurfaced tenfold.

He'd witnessed Evie cry only a handful of times before; she put so much effort into appearing happy and upbeat it was rare to catch her in any negative emotion, let alone actual tears. But there had been a couple of unforgettable occasions when he had (not so) accidently stumbled upon her crying by herself after a particularly nasty row with her mother or Mal anyone else on that God-awful island and she'd done just this - hid, ran away, pushed him out. And each time, seeing her in shame - hurt, broken, alone - ignited a spark in him to exact revenge on whoever had made her cry those tears, and make them cry tears of their own. He never told her, or anyone else, the details of his retributions, but he served justice in his own way. Today would be no different.

Doug would pay.

"Oh, of course you're here. That's just perfect," The fool had the nerve to roll his eyes and scoff in Jay's direction, fueling the flames of anger barely concealed beneath the surface.

The jerk moved to leave and instinctively Jay blocked his path, his muscled arms crossed in intimidation. If Doug had caused Evie's tears then he wouldn't be getting off without facing Jay. Doug stumbled back a few steps in fear, his arrogance dented.

"Doug, wait, I -" Evie's choked voice stuttered in panic, a sound so pitiful Jay's only thought was to do anything and everything he could to make it better so he'd never have to hear her sound that way again.

"Eves, are you okay?" He spoke lowly and quickly, pushing aside his anger momentarily and directing the question to her alone. She didn't respond aloud, but her quivering lip, glassy eyes and trembling shoulders answered for her.

God, he hated seeing her like this.

Doug opened his mouth to interject, but before he could, Jay grabbed the boy's shirt in his fist threateningly, crushing his stupid bow tie. He watched with mild satisfaction as the sudden act of violence made Doug swallow his words. At this point Jay was seeing red and had targeted Doug as the cause of his best friend's tears. He was ready to pretty much snap the kid in half for his crimes. No one messed with his friends and got off without punishment, especially not Evie.

Jay growled in Doug's face, "You did this? You made her cry?"

"Jay, don't," Evie pleaded, the desperation in her voice painful to hear. Jay tore himself from the anger he wanted to give in to and looked to her instead. In her sad, darkened eyes he could see she just wanted this to end; she wanted to be alone like every other time.

Jay felt the hostility within him crumble, only to be overpowered by the need to make her feel better, to make her smile again, to make her run to him instead of away. Hitting Doug would make him feel better, but Evie would still be crying.

He needed Evie to stop crying.

A deep breath, and he released Doug roughly. "Get out. Now."

It took about two seconds for Doug to scramble out the door in relief and by the third second Jay had swept Evie into his chest. Her body sank into him, deflated, all except for her hands that clutched his shirt desperately, like he was a buoy keeping her afloat. She wasn't running away, but Jay wasn't sure if that was a good sign, or proof that this was worse than anything she'd faced before.

"Eves, what happened? What did he do?" Jay breathed the words into her hair, a feeling of relief washing over him now that she was so close to him. He felt her head resting on his shoulder, her breath fanning his neck, the sweet scent of her hair encompassing the air - she was here, in his arms, away from harm.

Evie didn't respond at first, the only sound filling the room was her sniffling against his shoulder. As she calmed, the tension in her hands slackened and he knew she was sorting through her thoughts. He was doing the same, trying to imagine what happened between the two of them that could have exploded like this. What could Doug have said to get Evie this messed up?

It was then that the horrible thought hit him, one he hadn't suspected out of anyone since the island. What if it wasn't something that Doug said, but something that he did? What if he had tried something? What if he'd -

"Evie, I need you to tell me what happened," Jay demanded with such sudden urgency that Evie flinched. He felt bad for frightening her, but the sickening images of Doug hurting her were flickering through his head and he needed to know absolutely if they could be true. "Did he hurt you? I swear, if he touched you I'll make sure he never -"

"Jay, no!" Evie pulled out of his arms swiftly and shook her head so fervently her curls shook. "He didn't and you can't! You'd get in trouble!"

Jay wanted to roll his eyes at her out of place logic, but he was too relieved to hear Doug hadn't laid a hand on her to cop attitude. He could argue with her about priorities any day; right now he needed to establish what the idiot had actually said to get her in such a bad way, and more importantly whether or not Evie was actually as okay as she was now acting.

"Evie, what happened?" he repeated, realizing now that he'd lost physical contact with her and he felt like they were miles apart. He quickly pushed that irrelevant thought away because it was certainly no help to Evie. "I thought you two were...a thing, or something."

She sighed roughly and sniffled again. "I thought so too, but he said…" Her voice trailed off and she was looking at the floor again. "He said he was trying to see past all of my issues but he just couldn't anymore. He said he could never actually date someone from the Isle. And definitely never the daughter of the Evil Queen."

Jay's hatred for Doug grew with her every word. He hated the way Doug could never ignore Evie's past and see her for the girl she was now, the girl with the pure, good heart.

"This weekend, when he went home, his dad said that we couldn't even be friends anymore. He said I was full of darkness and evil and could never change. That if I was raised by a woman that evil, I could never be good," her voice broke on the last word and he knew her tears had returned.

Without a second thought he pulled her back into his embrace, wishing he could somehow take away her tears and sadness. This time she looped her arms around his neck and held him tight, welcoming the support. This realization should've filled him with happiness, but instead he felt the protective anger rising again.

Jay knew too well that Evie's biggest insecurity lay in what people thought of her. On the island, and even still on occasion, that was focused on what others thought of her outward appearance, all thanks to the mental and emotional abuse from her mother. Now in Auradon, Evie had become preoccupied with what others thought of her on the inside too - namely how good she was.

Those students that clung to the prejudice "once evil, always evil" ate at her confidence as much as her mother's comments about her looks once had. Though Jay thought this insecurity was absurd and unfounded, he still looked out for her feelings when issues with cruel students came up. Evie was sensitive and she wanted so much to be accepted by the good people.

Doug had to have been able to see that, right? Even if she hadn't told him, Jay would have seen the signs in her behavior. It was so obvious. So why the hell would Doug end things like this? What kind of "good" person hurts someone so knowingly?

"Bastard," Jay muttered, forgetting to keep his thoughts inside his head. For once, Evie didn't seem to mind his foul language.

Instead of scolding him, she raised her head from his shoulder and dropped her hands to his chest. This distanced them and again something in Jay wanted to protest. He didn't, and she stepped away.

"I thought he liked me. I tried so hard," she said, barely above a whisper. Her fingers fiddled with her skirt anxiously, but her face was calm, almost defeated. "I always dressed pretty and did my makeup and was so nice to him. I thought he was my friend or...more."

Jay huffed in frustration; everything she just said made him want to inflict massive amounts of pain on Doug. She shouldn't have to feel this way - not Evie.

"What did I do wrong?" Evie asked sadly, her voice high like a child. Jay felt another piece of his heart crumble away.

"Nothing!" In his emotion he took her by the upper arms, shaking her a little with the emphasis. "None of this is your fault, okay?"

Even with his level of insistence, Evie didn't meet his eyes. She looked thoroughly confused and it killed him that she couldn't see how ludicrous her guilt was.

"Listen to me, Eves," he said firmly, which was enough to draw her dark eyes, darker still with the tears welling up in them. "You shouldn't have to try to get someone to like you. They just should, because you're Evie. Forget about that stupid nerd and what he thinks, okay? I'm your friend and I don't need you to wear pretty clothes or put on makeup or be nice to me to prove it."

She actually smiled at him, timid but genuine, and he swore his heart flew around the world before she even blinked.

"Really?" She asked, a little bit of a laugh in her tone (or maybe that was wishful thinking.)

"Yes, really!" He replied, like it was the most obvious fact in the universe. "Screw him. He's not worth these tears." An air of seriousness settled in Jay as he lifted his hand to wipe a runaway tear from her cheek. He tried not to linger on the thought that it was the softest thing he'd ever felt because it seemed highly irrelevant to making her feel better. Evie's smile faltered under his, what he assumed to be, rough touch, but when he looked back to her eyes they shined brighter than ever.

"You're right," Evie said in a wavering, but confident voice that Jay was happy to hear.

"I know," he replied cheekily, just to earn a smile again.

She rolled her eyes and gave him that ten-watt grin he'd wished for. Everything was good.

Reaching a hand into a pocket hidden in the ruffles of her skirt, Evie produced the tiny magic mirror her mother gave her. She then proceeded to use it as an actual mirror, running her fingertips under her eyes where the black had smudged with a groan of annoyance. "Ugh, I messed up my makeup for him. Is it awful?"

She looked up from it to Jay, and he gave the only answer that came to his mind when looking at her face. "You look beautiful, Eves."

Where the heck had that come from? He wanted to slap himself in the face for being so corny. Not to mention to Evie, his best friend, of all people! He expected her to laugh at him, but instead she bit her lip and sort of smirked.

"Thanks," she said with a quiet sincerity and returned her mirror to her secret pocket. He could have sworn her cheeks looked pinker than they had a minute ago, but it was probably just the light.

"Anytime," he said, again without his brain's authorization. "What do you say we go eat some lunch and forget about that loser?"

"But lunch is almost over," she frowned, looking at the clock on the classroom wall.

"Hmm, well then, how about I go get us both some food from the dining room before it closes and then we can eat and study during free period?"

"Study?" She tilted her head in confusion adorably, like a puppy. Okay, he did not just think that…

"Chemistry?" He provided.

"Tutoring!" She clapped her hands together in realization. "I almost forgot! Yes, let's definitely do that."

Evie gathered her things while Jay waited for her. "Where should we study? Your dorm?"

"No, it's too nice out. How 'bout the bleachers at the tourney field? Maybe it will give me some motivation."

Evie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, or distraction. Isn't that where the cheerleaders practice?"

Jay grinned at her because he was supposed to, though truthfully he hadn't thought of all the girls in the short skirts when he made the suggestion. He'd only been thinking about the last time he and Evie sat on those bleachers - how he'd touched her, how he'd flirted with her, how her cheeks had glowed that perfect shade of pink… He mentally cut himself off before his teenage hormones could carry him away. It was just Evie, right?

"Now why would I look at cheerleaders when I have something much more interesting to captivate me?" he taunted with sarcasm. Evie playfully smirked at him, her eyebrows raised waiting for the punchline to his flirtatious joke. "My Chemistry textbook."

She rolled her eyes and groaned, making him laugh. "Fine. The bleachers it is," she gave in, hand on her hips. "I have to go back to my room for a minute but I'll meet you there."

They walked out the door to the hallway together. "Okay, what do you want from the dining room?"

Evie averted her eyes. "Oh, um, I'm not hungry."

"You didn't eat breakfast." Jay said, narrowing his eyes at his blue haired friend.

"I know. Just get what you want. I don't want anything," she dismissed him and parted ways, back to her dorm.

"What was that? You want everything?!" He called obnoxiously loud as she walked away.

She flipped around and glared at him. "Jay!"

He didn't give her a chance to retort, but turned to leave the opposite direction, laughing. "I know! Get two of everything!"

"Jayyy!" She whined, though he could hear the humor in her voice.

"Geez, I know you're hungry but be patient!" She was so fun to mess with. And of course, he'd be getting as much food as he could carry just to see her get annoyed.

* * *

 _ **Not too bad, right? I worked so hard to get the feel of this right. I'm still not sure if I'm conveying my version of Jay very well. Any thoughts or suggestions?**_

 _ **\- m.g.**_


	7. SEVEN: you think i'm adorable!

_**ohmygoodness its been so long since i updated! so sorry! but hello to all my new readers! i hope to update much faster now because i've written up to chapter twelve. i've got some exciting things planned...**_

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and when I'm with you I feel better

 **SEVEN: "you think i'm adorable!"**

Evie made her way to the dormitory as fast as she could for two reasons: one, she knew she probably looked atrocious and didn't want anyone to see her, and two, she was eager to spend time with Jay, who could lift her spirits and get her to think about something other than her broken heart.

Jay had been so kind, making Doug leave, comforting her. If he hadn't shown up… She didn't want to think about the state she'd be in. How could she have known that Doug could be so cruel? Wasn't he supposed to be good?

She didn't even tell Jay all that Doug had said. It was like some switch went off in him and every prejudice he'd ever been taught about the island just poured out. Not only that, but he had terrible things to say about all of her friends - even Ben.

Those were the things she hadn't shared with Jay, and never would. Doug had called Jay some absolutely horrible names and accused him of terrible things, thoughts that made even Evie's blood boil. She'd been so paralyzed by Doug's change in character she hadn't even defended Jay, or herself for that matter. She just caved in, drowning in the insults...like she used to with her mother.

Evie shook the scary thoughts from her head and walked faster still. Don't live in the past. Move on. Be brave.

By the time she made it to her room her phone had dinged four times. She hadn't stopped to search for it in the depths of her bag, but in the safety of her dorm room she fetched it from a pocket. The screen lit up with four text messages.

The first was from Carlos. He wrote:

 _Jay just told us what happened! Are u okay? You can borrow Dude to snuggle if u want._

Evie smiled, and felt her the prickling sensation in her eyes again at his kindness. She felt ridiculous for being touched by the simplest gesture, but hey, she was in a fragile state. She quickly typed back:

 _I'm ok :)...but I might have to take u up on that offer._

The next two messages were from Mal and had almost comically different tones to them.

 _HOW DARE HE?! HE IS NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS! I AM GOING TO CURSE THAT SHRIMPY DWARF SPAWN SO BAD HE'LL WISH HE NEVER_

The message ended abruptly. The following, coming in only a minute later said:

 _This is Ben. I'm making sure she doesn't actually put a curse on him, but I'm also very angry, so no promises. I'll definitely be having a talk with Doug about this. I'm so sorry, Evie._

Again Evie smiled at the different ways her friends showed their affection. She wouldn't trade them for anything. She replied to the messages:

 _Thanks, guys. And Mal, I appreciate the thought, but please don't do anything that will get u expelled!_

The last message had come a while after those and was from Jay. Evie tapped on it, confused as to why he'd need to text her when they were going to see each other in a few minutes. The text had a picture attached and it said:

 _This should be enough, yeah? ;)_

The picture was of a lunch tray overflowing with pretty much every kind of food the dining room offered. The thing probably weighed ten pounds and there was no way the two of them could finish all of it. She rolled her eyes and sent back:

 _You're crazy.:P_

Setting down her phone, she stepped to the mirror and took in her appearance. It wasn't so bad, but it was obvious she'd been crying. Her eyeshadow was reduced to smudges and her mascara had clumped together on her lashes. She fixed it up, easy, and from the outside she looked same as always. Her insides were another story…

She needed to get back to Jay quickly. He'd make her feel better. He'd help her forget.

She gathered the study materials she had for Jay and replaced her own things with them. It wasn't long at all before she was out the door and on her way to the tourney field.

The hallways were empty with most people in classes, a fact Evie was glad for. She didn't feel up for dealing with anyone else today.

Reaching the sunny grounds surrounding the castle cheered Evie slightly. She couldn't help but love the feeling of the sun on her skin. It made her feel like life could be good and warm and happy, though recent events had proved that feeling inaccurate.

It wasn't a long walk to the field; in fact, she could see Jay from across the castle lawn. He sat in the very top row of the bleachers, leaning back against the top railing. She hurried her pace, not knowing if it was because she was hungry or just because she wanted to see him.

"Hey, slowpoke," he greeted her as she began to climb the stands. "Don't worry, I saved some food for you."

"Some? You mean like two meal's worth?" She retorted as she viewed the still heaping tray of food.

"Well, it would have been less if you had just told me what you wanted," he bit back with his boyish smirk.

"I did tell you," Evie insisted as she finally reached the top bleacher and put her bag down. "I didn't want anything."

"Which was dumb, because you do want something. You haven't eaten all day. You have to be hungry," he said with an arrogance that knew he was right.

Evie simply stuck her tongue out at him and reached for a banana off the tray. Jay sported a smug smile but didn't say anything further on the subject.

"Okay," she said after a couple of bites, switching into academic mode. "Let me see what you've got."

Jay handed over the work he had done the night before after she'd left, looking a bit nervous. Evie scanned the problems and his answers while she munched on the rest of the banana. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jay run a hand through his hair the way he did when he was feeling anxious. His fingers tightened and released in the dark waves near his scalp, then combed through from crown to tip, tossing it back from his face. Not a moment later another lock fell down to frame his face and he pushed it aside in annoyance.

"So?" Jay probed, too soon for her to have finished with her brief distraction of thinking about him and his hair. She hoped he didn't realize she was staring.

She bit her lip to keep from smiling and held up a finger of pause, silently and without looking at him. He ran another hand through his hair in a huff of impatience, which she consciously ignored.

A few moments later, after checking each conversion and equation, she flashed him a bright smile she couldn't bear to mask. "Jay, these are all correct."

He froze, looking at her with wide, disbelieving eyes. "No way." He scooted closer so he was right next to her, leaning in to look again at his work. He pointed to a problem and only then did she then realize she was looking at him and not the paper. "Even this one?"

"Yes, completely correct!" She stressed again, finding it funny how slow he was to understand that he actually got all the questions right. She wasn't surprised, of course. She knew Jay was smart; he only needed a little direction and encouragement. Apparently that was still difficult for him to believe.

"That's crazy! You're sure? You wanna double check?" Jay said seriously with a controlled excitement, still examining the paper intently.

Evie giggled, his almost childlike excitement too endearing not to. "I'm sure! I don't need to double check!"

"Why are you laughing at me?" He turned to her, a playful scowl coloring his features. Evie floundered in surprise, mistakenly just spilling the thoughts in her head without thinking of consequences.

"I'm not! It's just...I've never seen you so worried about something. It's kind of adorable," she trailed off her last sentence, wondering why the heck she would say something like that out loud, to Jay.

She meant it, of course - his worried expression meant his eyebrows scrunched up and his lips pouted slightly and something in her just wanted to say 'aww' - but she never meant to actually tell him so. Complimenting Jay on his physical appearance, which he was already so fond of, only ever resulted in one reaction.

"You think I'm adorable?" His worry was instantly replaced with cockiness and his voice was flirtatious. Fluffing Jay's already oversized ego was definitely not her goal - he got enough of that from the several girls on campus pining after him.

Evie rolled her eyes and tried to refute his assumptions. For some odd reason she felt her face heating up, making matters worse. "No. That's not what I - Not you, but -"

"You're blushing!" He laughed, pointing at her cheeks, and Evie felt herself get more embarrassed. This was only Jay though; it shouldn't matter that he teased her. He did it all the time. It was literally one of his favorite pastimes, so why couldn't she laugh it off? "You think I'm adorable!"

Evie whined in frustration and shoved his paper back at his chest so she could cover her cheeks with her hands. "I said kind of, okay? And even if I did think you were adorable for like a second, I don't anymore!"

"Okay, sure," Jay chuckled in clear disbelief, raising his eyebrows suggestively and sidling in even closer to her. She knew he was messing around, but with his actions her heart rate spiked involuntarily and her face felt even hotter. Why did this keep happening?

Instead of considering, Evie shoved his shoulder and scooched away before her body could respond to him in any other illogical fashion. When there were a few inches between them again she felt herself calm down. When had these reactions to Jay started? He'd always flirted like this, but it hadn't always bothered her. Did this happen with other guys? Well, she didn't exactly get this close to other guys...

That had to be the source of these involuntary reactions - her inexperience. Sure, Evie flirted a lot, but she'd never dated a boy, or even kissed one, for that matter. Back on the island her mother had forbade any romantic contact because Evie was to save herself for a rich prince whose throne she could overtake. Princes didn't like princesses who weren't pure and innocent and untouched. Since then Evie understood how ludicrous the Queen's beliefs were, and that she didn't need a prince at all, which was why she'd felt it perfectly acceptable to like Doug. But it wasn't like Doug had given her any romantic experience, unless she counted heartbreak...

Evie made a mental u-turn at that thought. No way would she let herself venture down the path of reliving the incident again if she could avoid it. She wanted the whole ordeal put in the past. She wanted to forget and move on as fast as possible. No more tears here.

"Eves, you okay?" Jay burst into her thoughts with his casual question, though one look at his face and she could see the worry he was fighting. The poor boy was trying so hard to help her forget and here she was getting lost in her own thoughts. Bless him.

"Yeah, I'm good!" Evie said, with a touch too much enthusiasm. "Let's get back to chemistry."

He shot her a brief look of something like pity but turned away too quickly for Evie to analyze. He gave an affirmative response and they both settled in to studying again.

Evie thought Jay was doing exceedingly well considering where he began just a couple of days ago, but she could see that Jay didn't share in that positive outlook. He seemed listless in the way he worked - never content with anything but total understanding and her approval. She'd never seen that kind of drive in Jay and she wondered if it had something to do with tourney. This class stood between him and the one thing he found worthy of actual hard work and dedication, not to mention his friendships with teammates, so of course he would attack it with the same strength and determination as he did the sport. After seeing how much work he'd done in just a few short days, Evie had the feeling that Jay could accomplish anything he applied himself to.

The pair sat up at the top of the bleachers for the majority of the afternoon though it felt like only a few minutes had passed when Evie saw the Auradon Prep cheerleaders begin to take the field for their practice. Evie watched as the girls chatted and stretched in clusters of three and four, front and center their beautiful leader, Audrey. As much as Mal would kill her for thinking it, a small part of Evie wanted to be like those girls, pretty and perfect with their ponytails and pompoms.

A few of the girls began to take notice of the pair - one half of the pair in particular - and they waved their arms and squealed his name in delight.

"Jay!"

"Hey, Jay!"

"Hi!"

Evie turned her face away from them, but it wasn't like they couldn't tell who she was. She was the only person in all of Auradon with blue hair, after all. Of course all the girls knew Evie and Jay were friends, but in Evie's mind...the two alone on the bleachers could lead others to some dangerous assumptions.

After a few endless moments of their incessant chanting, Evie realized Jay was totally unresponsive to their calls. When she turned to look at him he was staring at his textbook, in his own world, brow furrowed in concentration, looking completely adora-

"Jay," Evie said, cutting off her own worrisome thought.

He immediately broke his reverie and looked at her, eyes wide with questioning. "Hmm?"

She nodded her head to his admirers silently, hoping he would acknowledge them and get them to stop.

"Oh!" He said in realization. That familiar flirty grin sprung onto his features and he waved a hand to the girls with a wink. Evie rolled her eyes and laughed, but the girls practically swooned.

However, when they had the attention they desired they quickly realized that someone else was occupying it before them, namely Evie. To them, that was unacceptable. Evie knew at least five of the cheerleaders had crushes on Jay, and the jealousy in their faces was palpable immediately. She watched nervously as the girls started to whisper and point at her, their coy smiles replaced with scornful glares. Her skin began to crawl, knowing that the words being said about her this moment we're far from kind.

She looked to Jay, but the oblivious boy had already buried himself back in his textbook.

"Um, I think I'm gonna go," Evie said quickly, wanting just to escape the sick feeling in her gut. She had enough of her confidence chipped away by Doug; she didn't need this too.

"What? Why?" Jay reemerged from the book as she gathered her things, his eyes confused. "You have somewhere to be?"

"No, but -"

"Then stay. It's only a little while until I have to get ready for practice and I need your help." He made a good argument but automatically her eyes shifted anxiously to the gaggle of girls watching them. If she stayed with Jay much longer they'd hate her for sure and she didn't want that.

Before she could protest again, she felt Jay's rough hand clasp her wrist in a gentle grip, stopping her from packing the rest of her supplies.

Her eyes flashed to his face - her first mistake - where his eyes were soft and pleading. She didn't attempt to pull away from his touch - her second mistake - and the warmth crawled up her skin and rested in her cheeks.

Then he said softly, his voice deep, "Please, Eves. Stay?"

In that sudden moment, none of her insecurities mattered. The cheerleaders could start hurling their pompoms at her head and she still wouldn't be able to look away from Jay. Did he have some magical power she didn't know about? Was this some kind of spell?

She felt her head twirl again, though aside from his fingers wrapped around her wrist he was a good distance away, so there was even less logic to the reaction.

"Okay," she nodded helplessly, giving in to a certainly bad idea - her third mistake.

In another earth shattering moment his face lit up with a grin so bright it felt like he was the sun, and he swiftly pulled her back down to sit on the bleacher, close to him. This didn't help the fuzzy feeling between her ears, in fact it only magnified it. But as she felt the warmth that came with being near Jay, she thought maybe this time giving in to it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe she was overthinking everything and should stop worrying about what others wanted and do what she wanted.

She wanted to stay with Jay.

And anyway, they were in Auradon! Cheerleaders were perfectly nice. She was probably worrying needlessly. They wouldn't hurt her.

Right?

* * *

 _ **ahhhh pretty cute, huh? they're getting flirty... and maybe with a little foreshadowing there at the end? see you soon!**_

 _ **\- m.g.**_


	8. EIGHT: like you don't know

_**wowwowwow hello everyone! there are so many of you now! i'm so shocked! your reviews and follows have really motivated me to keep writing. in particular, a guest review from just a couple days ago was so sweet and made me smile! thank you for reading and i hope you stick around!**_

 _ **by the way, i hope you all enjoyed descendants 2 (i did!), though i want you to know that i'm completely ignoring those events while writing this story. i established in chapter one that this is three months after the coronation so in this universe descendants 2 never happened!**_

 _ **ALSO! this chapter includes a little bit of MATURE LANGUAGE, not enough to change the rating, and honestly pretty mild use overall, but if you are sensitive to that i want you to know its coming and will be present as the story moves on in future chapters. ok so with that settled, let's get back to the action!**_

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when the waves crash down

baby, i won't move

 **EIGHT: "like you don't know."**

Practice seemed to drag for Jay, which was strange because he usually felt so exhilarated by the sport that time flew by. Tonight though, he was caught up in thinking about Evie, a pastime that was becoming more and more common. He'd managed to keep her in his company for most of the afternoon, silently making sure she was okay, but now that she was out of his sight his felt his worry for her mounting by the minute.

She had seemed mostly back to normal by the time he left her for practice, but there was still something definitely off with her. Deep, under the surface. Jay was afraid that she still had the words of that stupid prick ringing in her head. For someone with a past like Evie's, Jay knew verbal abuse could be extremely effective. However, he didn't know how to protect her from her own thoughts, and the thought of not being able to protect Evie was eating away at him.

After letting a few offensive players breeze by him uncharacteristically, Jay's distracted behavior became impossible to ignore. When the third player dodged Jay's defense and scored successfully, Carlos jogged over to his friend, taking his helmet off in one quick fluid motion.

"You alright, man? You seem really off," Carlos said warily as Jay took his own helmet off.

"I'm fine," He glanced at his roommate who was staring at him in concern and uncertainty, before looking away. "Just, I'm still worried about Evie."

Carlos exhaled heavily and ran a hand through his curly white hair. "Me too. How bad off was she?"

Jay grimaced at the memory of earlier that day, "At first… Man, it was bad. I've never seen her so shaken up. That bastard really got inside her head."

Carlos growled in frustration. "I can't believe this happened to her, here of all places! This was supposed to stop when we left the island. It just isn't fair," Carlos hung his head and kicked up some loose dirt on the field, clearly feeling just as powerless as Jay. "How's she doing now?"

"She seemed to cheer up as the afternoon went on, but I don't know… I still have this bad feeling. When I left for practice she was pretty much back to normal, but I just… I think she's still bothered, but she doesn't want us to worry. You know how she is." Jay met Carlos's squinted eyes as he nodded in understanding. They both knew that Evie had been trained by the Evil Queen to stifle any negative emotions away while anyone was watching, simply because they made her 'ugly'. It was a miracle in itself that today she had allowed him to stay with her, to lift her spirits, rather than send him away in shame. He should feel grateful, so why was his tension only multiplying as the moments passed?

"It was a good thing you found her, though, Jay." Carlos's voice held some forced optimism, and Jay knew his friend was trying his hardest to see the bright side and cheer him up. However, his next thought was somber and quieter than before. "I'd hate to think of what could've happened if she had to deal with that alone."

"Yeah, me too," Jay responded quietly, as his head filled with terrible thoughts of what might have happened if things had gone differently. A deep dread sunk into his belly as he flashed quickly through worst case scenarios. Would he even know about any of this if he hadn't walked in on it? Would she have told him at all? Would she have told anyone? Would she have let him comfort her or would she just have dissapeared? He had a feeling what the answers might be and he didn't like them. The thought that Evie might have run away from him instead of to him was -

An uneasy feeling churned in his gut, and he quickly pushed those thoughts away with all the mental strength he could muster. There was no point in dwelling on what might have happened. The important part was what did happen, and that ultimately Evie was going to be perfectly fine. Jay and the rest of her friends would make sure of it.

Moments later the coach was hollering their names across the field as the rest of their teammates were jogging into a huddle. "Jay! Carlos! Bring it in!"

Carlos clapped a hand on Jay's back supportively as they both jogged over to where their team had circled up to end practice. Though he tried to pay attention, the coach's final remarks for the practice were a blur to Jay. He was too busy counting down the seconds until he could hit the locker room, shower up, and then hopefully meet the rest of his friends for dinner. Meaning, of course, he would get to check in on Evie. He really had this itching suspicion that something was still wrong.

When the coach finally released them, Jay was the first one in the locker room and the first one to get out of his equipment and practice jersey and the first one in the showers. By the time the the other guys started flooding in he was already drying off.

"Dude, I get why you're hurrying, but no matter what time you get there, they're not gonna get to dinner any faster," Carlos chuckled, as he took off his jersey while Jay was putting his school clothes back on.

Jay rolled his eyes, but he knew he was right. The girls always met them in the dining room at the same time and that wasn't for another fifteen minutes. Still, hurrying had made him forget about being worried for a few minutes. Unfortunately now he had to just sit and wait for Carlos and Ben to be ready.

It was during this waiting, Jay leaning against the lockers impatiently, that an all too familiar mocking voice cut into the conversation he'd been having with Ben and Carlos. "Just can't wait to see your girl, huh, Jay?"

Jay looked up to find Chad Charming as the source of the taunt. The hard look of malice on his face made it clear that his hatred for Jay, as well as the others from the island, was still alive and well.

After the general distaste of his presence faded, Chad's words started to sink in. His girl? He couldn't mean Evie, right? True, Jay was waiting to see Evie, but Chad couldn't know that. However, he definitely would know Evie wasn't Jay's girl. At least not in an exclusive dating sense of the word like he was implying. So...what the hell?

"What the hell are you on about, Charming?" Jay retorted, voicing his thoughts uncensored and with enough annoyance that both Carlos and Ben turned their heads.

"Like you don't know." Chad rolled his eyes, scoffing, and Jay felt the sudden urge to punch him in the face. That wasn't anything new, though. He kind of always wanted to punch Chad in the face. "Everybody's talking about it. Now your gold digger is a cheat in more ways than one. Not surprising."

The cogs in Jay's head moved slower than normal, simply because whatever Chad was saying made literally no sense. However, when he came to the realization that Chad was once again calling Evie a gold digger and a cheat, like that time at the Family Day party, he didn't much need his brain to make sense of the situation. His fist moved much faster.

Thankfully, Ben knew Jay well enough now for his own peacekeeping reflexes to kick in faster. The young king had an arm extended in front of Jay before he could so much as push toward the pretentious prince. "Jay, easy!"

"You better shut the hell up, Chad!" Jay spat from the confines of Ben's arm, though he backed down as his brain caught up to him. Evie would kill him if he got in a fight, not to mention he could get kicked out of Auradon for good which was not a thought he wanted to entertain.

"Okay, Chad, how about you explain yourself before making accusations and calling names?" Ben interjected calmly, though his face was void of any kindness.

"Why should I? He knows what he did! I'm just saying what everyone's thinking." Chad shot back, leaving Jay, as well as Carlos and Ben as confused as ever. "Jay's a liar and a cheater and he and his princess should go back to the island where they belong."

Again Jay's anger sparked enough to lash out, but Ben roughly edged him back. "Chad, that's enough! That's totally uncalled for!"

"Is it, Ben?" Chad approached the king slowly, paying no mind to Jay seething behind his arm. "Auradon has standards and as King, you should be enforcing them. It's time you realized your charity cases just aren't making the cut."

Jay was stunned, which was especially strange seeing as how he'd been wanting to kill Chad just a moment ago. This insult was on a whole different level.

A heavy silence settled in the room.

Jay looked back to Carlos, whose face of shock was settling into one of cool, grim defense. He knew that look like the back of his hand - Carlos was steeling himself for a fight. He'd seen it every day on the Isle. But here? No. None of this was supposed to be happening here.

Jay felt the arm Ben had extended before him drop slowly, and his eyes flashed to his royal friend. Ben's whole demeanor had shifted, and the peacekeeping his mother had instilled in him was replaced with the fury of the Beast. Ben had eons more control than Jay, but was clearly just managing to stifle the rage. His hands had curled to fists and his eyes drew in to mere slits.

Looking more tense than Jay had ever seen him, Ben took two heavy steps in Chad's direction, until they were centimeters away. The typically moronic prince wisely stumbled back, but quickly reestablished his footing in a feeble attempt to match Ben's suddenly large and looming presence.

"The only standard I need to enforce is that goodness is protected from evil. That being said, Chad, if I hear one more thing like that come out of your mouth I'll see to it that you're sent to the Isle where _you_ belong." Ben's voice was eerily calm and quiet, but everyone in the room heard it.

Chad's flimsy confidence faltered as his eyes went wide in fear. Even so, the idiot built himself back up again and said with a slight waver to his voice, "You wouldn't dare."

Ben scoffed, or made a sound as close to a scoff as someone as kind as him could make, and shot back with venom, "Try me."

Then he turned abruptly, making quick eye contact with Jay and Carlos that made clear they needed to clear out quick before he lost it on Chad. With a sound more like a growl than his normal voice, Ben said, "Come on, guys. Let's go."

The two grabbed their things and followed his fast pace out of the building. Ben's anger seemed to dissipate with every step he put between himself and the situation, a fact Jay was glad for. He'd never actually witness Ben go full beast, but from what he'd heard it wasn't pleasant.

By the time the trio hit the fresh open air of the tourney field Ben looked entirely deflated and utterly exhausted. His gym bag dropped from his shoulder with a thump as he leaned over, hands braced above his knees. Jay was a ways behind him but he could hear his slow and heavy breathing loud and clear.

Carlos glanced at Jay, his brow furrowed in concern, before asking with hesitation, "You alright, man?"

Ben looked up at him but didn't straighten, answering heavily, "Yeah… It just really takes it out of me."

Carlos chuckled off hand, lightening the mood. "No kidding. You almost went beast on his ass!"

Ben smiled wryly, but Jay could see he was embarrassed as well. "I know! I just… What the hell is going on? Do you guys have any idea what he was talking about - because I'm lost."

Carlos shook his head wide eyed, and then they both turned to Jay. True, Chad had mentioned him, but Jay hadn't done anything recently to give basis to his accusations. As far as Evie's involvement, he could see Chad agreeing with Doug's opinions about her and insulting her for the same reasons, but that wasn't what Chad was on about. Chad was linking Jay and Evie. Like the two of them together had done something wrong - but what? Jay was only more confused.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Jay answered, shaking his head. "I mean, clearly he was talking about me and Evie, but nothing made any sense to me. I thought he was talking about what happened with Doug, but then the whole liar and cheater thing - I don't know what that has to do with me or Evie."

"Maybe the girls know. We should ask," Carlos suggested.

"Good idea. Plus, I could really use something to eat," Ben agreed roughly as he picked up his duffel bag like it weighed a hundred pounds. A few seconds later he sighed, "And a nap."

* * *

 ** _ugh, who's the bigger jerk here, chad or doug? and speaking of chad, what do you think he's talking about? comment with your predictions! i'm curious to see if you can guess! and hurry, because once i will be posting the next chapter with the answer wednesday night!_** ** _keep an eye out for it!_**

 ** _\- m.g._**


	9. NINE: then i'll end it

**_ugh, i know i said wednesday night and it is now thursday morning but please don't hate me! we moved my sister into college yesterday and it took way longer than expected so last night was just not going to work out. but anyway, better late than never here is where we figure out what the heckin heck is going on. :)_**

 ** _oh also, thanks a billion to those of you who commented and sent me messages! they literally make my heart soar and makes me want to write even more! please keep it up!_**

* * *

two sided story it all depends

 **NINE: "then I'll end it."**

It was safe to say Evie was not having a good day.

It was bad enough that her not-really-but-sort of boyfriend broke her heart and insulted pretty much everything about her life, but then, around five o'clock, her already terrible day went from bad to worse.

Evie sat on her bed - back against the headboard, legs stretched out, ankles crossed - painting her fingernails, trying to de-stress from the events of the day. Mal was on her own bed doing something on her laptop. The room was calm, peaceful, and gave exactly what Evie wanted out of her evening.

Not two seconds after she had that thought, in burst Lonnie, daughter of Mulan and Shang and one of the few Auradon girls Evie and Mal considered a friend.

The brunette shut the door behind her as swiftly as she entered and though she was quiet about it, the noise seemed deafening compared to the silence Evie was enjoying.

"Um, hi?" Mal said with humor as Lonnie whipped around dramatically to face them with wide, panicked eyes.

Lonnie gave an awkward chuckle and said quickly, "Hi. Sorry, but there's a problem. Big problem. Big big problem."

"What's wrong?" Evie asked with worry as she set aside her nail polish. Selfishly, she was really hoping it had nothing to do with her. She'd had enough for one day.

"Uh… Well… It's…." Lonnie stuttered, suddenly evasive and anxious, wringing her hands.

Mal and Evie exchanged apprehensive looks. This couldn't be good. If it were good news Lonnie would be jumping up and down and grinning ear to ear. It wasn't like Lonnie to be so speechless and uncomfortable.

"Spit it out!" Mal urged, ever impatient.

Lonnie gulped a big breath of air and squeezed her eyes shut. "Everyone is saying that Evie cheated on Doug!"

Evie sprang to her feet in shock and protest, nail polish forgotten, and Mal opened her mouth to argue, slamming the lid of her laptop shut. Both of them were silenced again by Lonnie, still looking distressed. "There's more."

"More?" Evie echoed miserably, the feeling of dread in her gut building.

Lonnie nodded, chewing on her lip. She was struggling to meet Evie's eyes which only made the blue haired girl more worried. What more could there be? How much worse could this get?

"Well?!" Mal huffed, the bite in her voice making Lonnie jump.

Lonnie took another deep breath and said, slowly this time. "Everyone is saying that Evie cheated on Doug...with Jay."

Evie felt herself fall back on her bed roughly, her eyes staring straight ahead as she processed. What she feared would happen if she stayed on the bleachers earlier was actually happening. They thought she was with Jay...but worse! They were calling her a cheater!

Her!

Evie, the one who'd had princess lessons since birth, who'd dreamed of love her whole life, who'd never even dated a boy, a cheater?!

She felt tears prick her eyes at the insult, as well as the fresh reminder that she truly wasn't a princess here at all.

But hang on, how could she even cheat? She was never actually dating Doug! Cheating only happens if there's actually a relationship! Not to mention, of course, she'd never done anything with Jay that could be construed as cheating even if she had been dating Doug! They were strictly friends. Best friends, yes. Best friends who flirted a little, sure. But nothing more! Nothing that deserved this!

And Jay of all people definitely didn't deserve this. He'd been amazing, not only today but as a friend in general. What kind of friend was she, being the the reason he would be labeled a cheater? This would certainly make things weird between them, knowing that everyone around them thought they were secretly dating or something.

Would he be mad at her?

Well, he wouldn't be happy with her, obviously. This wouldn't ruin their friendship, would it?

No, she wouldn't let it. Maybe they wouldn't be as close for awhile, but she'd never lose him as a friend. He was too important.

"Eve? You okay?" Evie felt the bed dip down as Mal sat beside her.

Evie blinked away her tears and cleared her throat. She would be strong. She could handle it. "Yes, I'm just...processing. It's not true, at all. I would never -"

"We know," Mal said confidently, a reassuring smile on her fair face. This caring side of Mal was new to their friendship, but Evie was beyond grateful for it.

"I never thought for a minute it was true. I told the girls who told me that it wasn't, but I don't think they believed me." Lonnie's voice was somber and cautious, but much calmer than before. Evie tried to smile in gratitude but she didn't have much luck.

"What do I do?" Evie asked helplessly, looking to Mal for guidance. Was she just supposed to ignore everything? Was that going to be possible? Would she confront Doug? He had to have started this, right? Where else would the lie come from?

Mal frowned in thought, then sighed. "Let's talk to the boys at dinner. This involves Jay too, after all."

Evie nodded in agreement, but she felt a sort of anxiousness rise in her chest. She was so afraid of how he'd react, though logic told her not to be. Jay was good to her. He wasn't Doug.

"Speaking of dinner, it's almost time," Mal said, glancing at her bedside clock. As she and Evie collected their things she glanced at the other girl still in the room. "You coming, Lonnie?"

The dark haired guest looked stunned at Mal's offer to include her. She'd never been invited to hang out with the rest of the group, but Evie liked her and thought she'd fit in well. Plus she knew the most about this rumor which made her input all the more valuable. "Me? To dinner? With all of you? Really?"

Mal shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, if you want."

Lonnie's face still spelled surprise, but a smile blossomed across it anyway. "Okay. Yeah, sure. Let's go."

The trio left the room and made the short walk to the dining room quickly. Lonnie was chatting to Evie along the way, but Evie struggled to keep up the conversation. Her mind was still plagued with worry, not to mention everyone they passed was eyeing her with thinly veiled disdain. She hated when people disliked her. It made her very uncomfortable.

They found a table without a problem, mostly because students were making a point to avoid their presence. At least one good thing came with the whispers and stares.

Evie wasn't hungry again, being she was too worried about how many people were looking at her and talking about her at that moment. She put some random food on her plate anyway, though. She didn't want anyone to bother worrying about her eating habits when there were clearly more important matters.

The girls fell into some quasi normal conversation as they waited for the boys, but still the feeling of relief was palpable when their friends finally arrived. Evie studied them as they approached, noting that a few things seemed off: Ben looked dead on his feet instead of cheerful and upbeat. Carlos appeared mostly normal, but Evie knew him well enough to pick up on the wrinkle in his forehead and the squint in his eyes. He was worried, like her. And Jay…

Something in Evie didn't want to look at Jay. She couldn't name it and she didn't know why it made her hesitate, but it did.

When her eyes did shift to him, she was startled to find him staring her down, his eyes hard and intense, as he walked to the table. On instinct she looked away from the gaze, but felt stupid the next moment. This wasn't someone gossiping about her, it was Jay. He was on her side. She didn't have to hide.

Even so, she didn't meet his eyes again.

"Ben!" Mal sprang to her feet, her voice colored with uncharacteristic concern. She flew to her boyfriend before he arrived at the table and embraced him. The strong king seemed to melt in her arms, drawing even more attention to his state. Mal touched his face softly and murmured, "Are you okay?"

He didn't seem to give her an answer, so Mal turned away and sharply addressed Carlos and Jay as they took seats at the table. "What happened?"

"There was a bit of an...incident," Carlos answered warily.

"What kind of incident?" Mal demanded, her words fired quickly like they did when she was losing control. Evie watched as she struggled to support most of Ben's weight and stare down the boys.

"Mal-" Ben tried to interject as he pulled away from her, but the sudden movement threw him off balance and he stumbled into the table. He looked like he was going to collapse from exhaustion any minute. Evie had never seen him like this and it was honestly frightening.

Mal caught her boyfriend again and her face tightened in worry. She moved toward the bench of the table with him in tow.

"Eve, could you -" she asked, with a nod to the other side of the table.

Without much thought Evie complied and jumped out of her seat so Lonnie could slide down and give the two closest seats to the couple. However, giving up her seat next to Lonnie meant taking the empty seat next to Jay - who was still watching her with dark eyes despite the commotion.

She couldn't read the emotion behind his unwavering gaze, but it definitely wasn't a positive one. Even the way he sat at the table - head lowered, back rigid, powerful arms folded on the table top - exuded discontent in the normally laid back teen.

Evie's fear of it being anger or annoyance or bitterness directed at her made her stomach churn in worry. She knew she should have confidence in their friendship but she didn't exactly have a lot of successful friendships to give her faith in that idea. How easy it would be for him to blame her for this mess…

By the time Evie slid in next to Jay, practically hovering on the edge of the bench to keep space between them, Mal had begun grilling Jay and Carlos about how exactly her boyfriend had gone from fit and healthy to barely conscious in a matter of one practice.

"Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on. Now," she said, with the authority that brought back memories of her reign over the island.

There was a long moment of silence in which Mal continued to glare at her friends and they proceeded to avoid her eyes at all cost. Jay had at last stopped looking at Evie, but had now fixed that withering stare at the table, closing himself off. Carlos turned to Jay expectantly, but it seemed like he was leaving Carlos on his own to face Mal.

Evie wanted someone to just spit it out already so she could figure out if it had anything to do with the rumors. She had an awful feeling it might.

"Well," Carlos began carefully, looking like he was figuring out how to phrase something. "It was after practice and Chad started in on Jay about…"

Carlos stalled and glanced over to Jay with uncertainty. Something in his words made Jay look up from his view of the table suddenly and Evie assumed he shot Carlos some kind of answer. However, she couldn't see his face to detect what sort of answer he was giving, which annoyed her. She felt out of the loop and she really needed to be in the loop to know if Jay was planning on not being her friend anymore.

Carlos seemed confused by Jay's reaction as well, but finished the thought awkwardly with, "About… something. Anyway, Jay got angry and went to hit Chad because he seriously deserved it, but Ben intervened before he could."

"You were going to hit him?" Evie echoed softly in shock, without thinking, turning to face Jay. Her fears of angering him momentarily flew out the window and were replaced by fears of him getting in another fight. Fighting in Auradon could get him kicked out, and the thought of Jay not being here in Auradon was too much. No issue was worth fighting over when that was on the line.

Jay turned to her when she spoke to him, a genuine look of regret creasing his previously hard features. He opened his mouth like he was going to reply, but Mal interjected before he could, not even realizing that Evie had said anything. At her voice Jay tensed again and turned away, leaving Evie with renewed anxiety and no explanation.

"Okay, that's bad enough, but it doesn't explain why Ben is asleep on my shoulder right now," Mal hissed, her voice hushed from trying not to wake the king who had indeed fallen asleep at the table.

There was a moment of quiet and Evie noticed Mal falter a bit in her strong exterior.

"He only gets like this if he goes beast. Did he - did he do something?" Mal questioned firmly, but with obvious hesitation. The whole table could only guess the repercussions of Ben's beast side, but it would undoubtedly cause trouble around the kingdom if word got out that the the future king was unleashing the beast on fellow students.

Carlos assured her quickly and quietly, "No. But, almost."

Mal sighed in relief, but still was on edge. When she spoke her voice was free of the intimidating sharpness but definitely agitated. She could be very protective of Ben and Evie knew this was her way of showing it, deliberate or otherwise. "Almost? What happened?"

"When Ben intervened Chad turned on him and started, like, insulting his leadership and saying that he wasn't a good king because he let us into Auradon. He called us charity cases...among other things." Carlos's summary was casual, his face uncharacteristically flat and detached for someone as animated as he was. Evie knew that was how he coped with bullying. He'd gotten just as much of it on the island as she had, probably more.

Though this news was unsurprising to the villains' kids, the one (currently conscious) Auradonian at the table let out a small gasp.

"That's horrible! How could he call you that?" Lonnie's mouth had fallen open, her eyes scrunched tight in disapproval. Apparently hurling insults at one another wasn't a typical pastime in Auradon.

Carlos, seemingly just now noticing that Lonnie was even there, shifted awkwardly under her gaze. He responded hurriedly, speaking to her but not looking at her, for some reason. "It's really not a big deal. We expected it."

Judging by her expression, this seemed to trouble Lonnie even more, but she didn't add anything else to the matter. What more was there to say, anyway? In a way, they were charity cases. Ben felt bad about them being on the island and so he brought them here. Of course, the insult held a deeper meaning than just that, but the validity of it was still quite obvious.

Mal heaved another sigh, making the king on her shoulder stir. Ben blinked and raised his head, looking both confused and embarrassed at the same time.

"M' sorry," he slurred as he pieced things together.

Mal bit her lip and said, "Don't be. Maybe you should go rest…"

Ben shook his head, both disagreeing and waking himself up. "No," he said more clearly. "No, we need to talk about what's going on."

Mal nodded, and the others around the table gave answers of agreement. Evie felt her worry resurface, having been up and down throughout the sequence of events. Was there such thing as emotional whiplash?

"Right. I think we need to begin with whatever Chad said to Jay to start the whole thing. That probably has something to do with what Lonnie told us," Mal asserted.

"Wait, what does Lonnie have to do with any of this? I thought you were just eating with us," Carlos interjected. His eyes shifted rapidly to Lonnie with troubled curiosity, then back to Mal.

Lonnie began to answer him, but Mal cut her off with her pointer finger extended out toward Carlos. "Jay first, then Lonnie."

Lonnie nodded, obviously intimidated by Mal, and Carlos rolled his eyes at being bossed around, but neither objected.

"Jay?" Mal prompted, as everyone turned their heads to the silent member at the table.

He sat up straighter in his seat, though to Evie that hadn't seemed possible. In his movement Evie felt the fabric of his jeans scratch against her leg. He'd rested his left leg, from thigh to calf against her right leg, though he didn't seem to notice or move away. When had she gotten so close to him again? Wasn't she just hanging off the edge of the bench a minute ago?

Jay heaved a sigh, and raised his gaze to scan around the faces around the table. Evie noted his expression - dark eyes drawn together tightly, wrinkles forming in tanned skin, jaw set strong with grit teeth. What did that mean? Agitation? Discontent? Worry? She wished she could place it.

"Well, uh," he began slowly, sounding oddly quiet. "I got ready really quickly after practice and I was waiting for Carlos and Ben, when Chad said something like I couldn't wait to see my girl, or something. Obviously, I didn't know who he was talking about, but then he said…"

Jay looked down again, clearly unwilling to repeat whatever Chad had said next. His face had contorted roughly in anger and his voice was low and gravelly, like Chad was right there in front of him again. "Then he said… Everyone was talking about how my gold digger was now a cheat in more ways than one. I didn't know what he meant, but I knew he was talking about Evie because he'd called her that before, so I tried to shut him up, but Ben stopped me. Then he said that I was a liar and a cheater and that Evie and I should go back to the island, where we belong."

As he spoke Evie felt tears well up, though she tried furiously to blink them away. She was so embarrassed and angry and hurt. It was all too much.

And Jay… He didn't look at her even once. He was so angry, and at least some of it had to be because of her. She hated that he had to be involved in this. He hadn't done anything but be the best friend she'd ever had! And how did she repay him - by being the reason everyone thought he was a liar and a cheater, and by being the probable cause of his getting hurt or hurting someone else in a fight. Clearly she knew nothing about being a friend. She only caused more trouble.

In the background of Evie's thoughts she heard Lonnie gasp again and Mal mutter a colorful name for Chad.

"For being a place full of 'good' people, Auradon sure does have an active chain of gossip," Mal scoffed.

"So what is this gossip? Why was Chad calling Evie and Jay all those things?" Carlos asked adamantly.

Mal, Lonnie, and Evie all exchanged looks, each wondering who was going to explain the big misunderstanding. As much as Evie wanted to run and hide and wait for this to all go away, she knew she'd better be the one to clear things up.

"According to Lonnie," she began, finding herself staring at the table instead of her friends. "Everyone believes that the reason Doug and I aren't...together anymore, is because I was cheating on him."

"Cheating?" Carlos echoed in disbelief.

"It gets worse," Lonnie interrupted like earlier.

"Worse?"

"Cheating on him with Jay," Evie said to the table in a quiet voice.

She didn't dare look up at the boy sitting next to her. At the same time that she wanted to know his thoughts and feelings, they equally scared her into avoiding them. However, in the next moment an unexpected loud bang forced her eyes to jump to him without her brain's permission.

Jay had slammed both fists down on the table top in anger and the structure shook under the weight. Evie watched his face contort into a deep scowl, his eyes even darker than before. His knuckles glowed white with his clenched fists as Evie felt a genuine flash of fear.

She knew this Jay. This was Jay from the island - angry, violent, volatile, poised for battle. This was the Jay she hoped she'd never see again. This Jay scared her.

"Doug started this?" He asked, with only a shred of questioning. Instead his voice was low, monotone, and demanding.

They all sat in stunned silence for a second, all justifiably scared of his next move.

Surprisingly Lonnie piped up first, albeit timidly. Though perhaps it was because she didn't know any better. "Yes, that's what I heard."

"Then I'll end it."

In a blur of a moment, Jay rose from the table and flung his duffle bag over his shoulder. His friends could only watch in shock as he left them like a flash of lightning - all anger and fury one moment, thundering across the courtyard toward the school in the next.

Evie sat stunned, watching his figure depart, until the thoughts resumed clicking in her head, fast paced.

End it? Did that mean…

Jay wouldn't…

Would he?

Normal Jay wouldn't. But this wasn't normal Jay.

This Jay would.

She darted out of her seat as fast as she could, not even offering her friends a vocal recap of the thoughts running through her head before she tore away after the storm that was Jay, praying to God that Doug wasn't anywhere near the dining room tonight.

* * *

 _ **ok so now we know what's happening, but how are evie and jay going to handle the rumors? any thoughts? i'd love to hear from you!**_

 _ **\- m.g.**_


	10. TEN: you won't like it

**_wow, i'm back! you guys, honestly, i have had the craziest month. i'm busy with classes, moving my sister into a new apartment (again), and work stuff and unfortunately fun stuff like writing easily falls to the wayside._**

 ** _but despite that you lot have been amazing and your reviews are just incredible. i really appreciate the encouraging ones and the ones that give me a kick in the ass to keep going as well as some of the more hilarious ones that are reacting to the story. you people are all gems. hope this chapter isn't too much of a let down; things are going to get kind of bleh before they get spicy, you know? haha, hope you enjoy!_**

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do whatever it takes

pay whatever the cost

 **TEN: "you won't like it."**

Jay never knew there was truth to the metaphor 'seeing red' until he was pounding across the school grounds searching for the kid he intended to subdue into silence with his fists. As he scanned the crowds of students peering at him with both ridicule and fear, he felt as if he was in one of Carlos' video games, eyeing everyone until he found his target.

He made it inside the grand hall before he felt someone latch on to his left arm. Being on the offensive, his instincts guided him as he pulled away roughly and turned around to drive away the attacker, who at this point could be anyone in this school considering how many enemies he'd made.

But it wasn't just anyone. It wasn't an attacker.

It was Evie.

It was Evie, gasping in surprise and backing away from him.

It was Evie, looking back at him in fear.

Evie.

He instantly recoiled, ashamed at his actions, but the damage had been done. The anger toward Doug had cooled, only to be replaced with the familiar self-loathing that came when he disappointed his best friend. Why did he keep doing that?

"I'm so sorry - I didn't mean to - I thought you were -" he rambled helplessly as she collected herself, hopefully realizing he wasn't a raging lunatic anymore. "Are you okay?"

He touched his hands to her arms and she didn't flinch like he half expected, but her expression was still wary. She knew he would never hurt her, right? She had to. God, if she thought that he would ever hurt her…. The thought made him sick.

"I'm fine," she said unconvincingly. His first thought was to check again, but she seemed so bothered by the throngs of students shooting them harsh looks that he resisted. "Can we go somewhere more private?"

He complied quickly with a silent nod, though a large part of him would rather just have given his classmates a piece of his mind. This staring and whispering act was already getting in his nerves. He couldn't imagine how Evie was taking it.

Shooting glares at his gawking peers behind her turned back, he followed Evie into an unlocked classroom. It reminded him too much of the day before, and a sickening anxiety stirred with his rage as he waited for her to begin whatever her reasoning was for stopping him. If it had been anyone else, he'd have already sent Doug to the infirmary, but for Evie he'd at least let her talk.

"Jay, please don't hurt Doug," she pleaded, and he immediately wished he'd changed the subject before she could get to this.

He stepped away, scowling, but she held her ground. "I'm serious, Jay! Beating him up won't solve anything. It will just make things worse."

"No, it will shut him up which is exactly what I want," he argued with her, trying not to look in her eyes. He knew himself well enough to know that he'd give in for sure if he looked in those eyes.

"Jay," She sighed heavily and bowed her head. As soon as he couldn't see those eyes it struck him that maybe looking away was a bad idea. How was he supposed to read her? "I know you're angry that I got your name dragged into this, and believe me I want it all to stop just as -"

"Wait," he interjected sharply, feeling his anger flaring up as he realized she was taking the blame away from that rat again."You didn't get my name dragged into this, okay? Doug made all of this up. This isn't either of our faults. It's Doug's."

"I know, but…" she wavered and glanced up at him briefly. "People wouldn't have believed it so easily if they didn't see us alone together all the time."

"That's not our fault either! We're friends. Hanging out together is what friends do." Reacting quickly gave him less time to think about how she was probably a little bit right. The guys on the team had teased him about her before, clearly misreading their relationship. Of course the student body was doing the same thing.

"I agree. However, the only way to stop these rumors is to stop giving people a reason to believe them. Beating up Doug is only going to start more rumors about us or get you kicked out, which I am not at all okay with!" She crossed her arms defiantly and he had to remind himself to stay in the conversation and not dwell on how adorable she looked when angry.

"If you've got a better idea, let's hear it," he responded lowly, hating that he was giving in. She did have a point about beating up Doug. No doubt someone would turn Jay in and he'd be shipped back to the island in a heartbeat and then he'd be far away from anyone who cared about him at all. If avoiding that was possible he supposed he could give up putting Doug in his place, at least for a little while.

Evie bit her lip, another image that inexplicably threatened to distract Jay from the present situation. But after that small gesture, her arms slackened and her gaze drifted, warning Jay that this solution wasn't going to be favorable.

"You won't like it," she murmured. "I mean, I don't like it either, but -"

"Just tell me," Jay cut in impatiently, having a terrible prediction of what she might be suggesting.

"It's not a big thing, really," she reasoned carefully as she looked up to him, wary. "We just… We have to let the rumors die. We can't give anyone any reason to suspect anything romantic between us."

"Which means?" he questioned slowly.

"Which means...we avoid being seen alone together, for a little while. Just until they all find something else to talk about."

Jay could only stare at her while his mind turned this around. She was wringing her hands together so much they kept changing colors from white with pressure to red with burn. Despite his anger he had the distinct urge to take hold of her hands and stop her worrying, tell her everything would be fine.

Idiot. It was those exact urges that were getting them into this mess.

In the time spent berating himself he missed the point of what she was saying, but he came full circle a few seconds later. That's when the reality of her words hit him like a less than gentle boulder in the gut.

"You don't want to be seen with me?" He stated, short and angry and without the questioning tone the words suggested. Anger was safer than acknowledging what he really felt hearing that from her, and it was certainly more familiar.

"No!" She supplied quickly, stepping toward him and reaching out like she was going to touch his arm. She didn't, though. "That's not what I mean at all. I just think that…the next time we spend time together… maybe we don't spend it alone on the bleachers with half the cheerleading squad glaring at us."

"What are you talking about? This afternoon?" He questioned, losing track of how hanging out with her and seeing the cheerleaders were at all related.

"Yes, this afternoon," she replied, now crossing her arms at her chest, probably to stop her hands from moving. "I'm sure it only made the rumors more believable, especially to those girls. And those girls… Well, what they think matters."

"To who?" he scoffed.

"To me," she answered quietly, looking down to the floor. "I don't want it to, but it does. I want them to think I'm good, like them."

That all too familiar self-loathing you're-an-inconsiderate-jerk feeling sunk into him like a sucker punch. Of course she cared what they thought. Her mother trained her to care about what everyone thought of her. As twisted as it seemed in his mind, it wasn't going away anytime soon; not when it had been drilled into the poor girl since she was a child. He only wished he could make her see that the only opinion of herself that mattered was her own.

He huffed a sigh of defeat and ran a hand through his tangled hair. "Okay, so what's your plan to get them to stop? I'll do whatever you want."

"Really?" Evie's voice carried a note of happiness for once in the last hour and when he looked back to her face she was smiling in awe. Could she really be surprised though? His will power against her was waning by the day.

"Of course," he said transparently and without forethought. "I may not care what any of them think, but I care about you. If you want them to stop, then so do I."

There was a beat of silence, filled only by the feeling of his neck getting strangely warm.

What was he doing just word vomiting his thoughts like that?! No way could he even look at her now, not until this moment of humiliation had passed. Yet the internal debate within him had other ideas, what with something in him screaming to just get outta there while simultaneously daring him to judge her expression.

However, he didn't have much a chance to decide, for in the next moment a surprisingly soft blue hurricane filled his vision, accompanied quickly by two arms crossing tightly around his neck and Evie's whole body weight pressing against him.

At that point his brain switched off like a light and it was all he could do just to wrap his arms across her back and reciprocate this hug she'd sprung on him. Every thought in his head prior to this moment turned to mush and all he knew was the scent of her hair, the softness of her skin, and the rhythm of her breathing against his chest.

Why didn't he hug his best friend more often?

Hours too soon, she pulled away, and it was only then that the world started to come back to him and the answer to that question made sense again.

She was Evie. His best friend. The whole point of this conversation was that they were so close people thought they were secretly dating. Hugging her on a regular basis would definitely be detrimental to the cause and would probably give her the wrong idea about things. Not that she would ever think those things about him, but still, if she did then -

Man, he needed to pull himself together.

Evie cleared her throat awkwardly in the silence, or maybe the awkwardness was only in his head. Regardless, it snapped him out of his dangerous thoughts.

She met his eyes and said sweetly, "Thank you."

Jay only matched her small smile, because his vocal chords were apparently still on lockdown from the surprise hug. However, looking at her face did reveal a faint, but very real redness to her cheeks that reminded him clearly of the time on the bleachers. His small smile grew to a grin involuntarily.

She glanced down again shyly at that and quickly redirected the conversation. "Anyway, my plan is that we avoid hanging out alone around school until everyone gets bored or starts talking about something else."

Jay frowned, his good mood rapidly deflating. Yes, he'd agreed to this, but it still annoyed him.

Probably feeling guilty, Evie tried to force some positivity on the bleak situation. "We can still hang out together with other friends though. And it shouldn't take more than a week. I'm sure it will fly by."

He seriously doubted that.

"What about tutoring? I have that test I need to pass this Friday," Jay reminded her, more thankful than he'd ever admit that he found a loophole in this plan. Not seeing Evie on his own terms for even a week sounded downright awful.

Only because he didn't like being controlled by other people, obviously.

"Well, we can just do the tutoring in your room, where no one will be watching us, like yesterday. Will that work?"

Good. So as long he still needed tutoring he would get to hang out with her. Not quite back to normal, but he guessed he could live with it for a week.

"Yeah. That'll work."

"Great!" She answered with much more enthusiasm than he did. "And Jay, don't worry about that test. We've got all week to prepare. It's only Monday after all."

God, she was right. It was only Monday. His day felt like it lasted a month. This had to be the worst Monday ever, and the week was only going to get worse.

Great.

* * *

 _ **FAM THEY'RE BREAKING UP! lol just kidding they're just "friends". anywhoooo who's ready for some separation anxiety?**_

 _ **\- m.g.**_


	11. ELEVEN: come over tonight?

**_i'm horrible. i know. it's been literally six months since i've posted anything. i hope you don't all hate me too much. i promise i've been busy! i actually quit my job, moved across the country and have been trying to pursue a dream. takes up a lot of time tbh. any way, back to the couple we all love!_**

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but you must have me hypnotized

 **ELEVEN: "come over tonight?"**

If best friend deprivation were a real thing, then Evie was definitely suffering from it.

It was like that saying 'you don't know what you've got until it's gone' only she wouldn't say she ever had Jay and she definitely knew he wasn't gone permanently... Still, the sentiment was felt.

Evie missed Jay. Like, a lot. A lot more than she thought she would when she suggested this plan.

She'd tried to think her way out of it. Honestly, she was still seeing Jay almost every day. Although most of those were only for a couple seconds in the few times she'd pass him in the hall. But still, it had only been three days (correction: two days, seventeen hours and thirty-three minutes) since they'd even agreed to this arrangement. And only one day (correction: twenty-eighty hours and seven minutes) since they'd talked face to face, albeit it was over breakfast with the rest of their friends and it consisted of "Good morning," and "You too," and not much else thanks to their chatty company.

This week had just been extraordinarily busy. The times that she thought she was going to be able to at least be around Jay, like meal times with the others, had nearly all been occupied by a group project assignment for one of her classes.

Her otherwise perfectly acceptable group members insisted on meeting during lunch and dinner almost every day this week despite her vocal dissent and mounting annoyance. That meant the only real contact she'd had with her best friend all week had been through text, and she barely had time for that.

Still though, logically speaking, this wasn't a viable reason for her to feel so detached, disheartened, and simply put, blue. She'd gone that long without seeing Jay before and been just fine, obviously.

Well, maybe not recently…

Actually, she realized that it was extremely rare for her to go a day without talking to Jay face to face nowadays. He was an integral part of her everyday routine, which was a strange and unnerving thought in itself. When had she ever been so attached to someone? Especially Jay...

When had he become so... important to her?

It was these thoughts she turned over and over as the week continued. They both intrigued her and scared her, as she knew deep down there was something different and entirely foreign in her friendship with Jay that she was nowhere near ready to discover. So instead, she focused her attention on whether or not this avoiding him plan was actually working (with hopes that either way she could call it off soon).

All in all, the plan was working just as she suspected. Sure, the first couple of days were still dominated by the whispers and judgemental glares, and her favorite, the outright interrogations. She had three different people ask her if she was secretly dating Jay and/or cheating on Doug on Tuesday alone. At least those people, though accusatory and quite rude, could hear the truth from her directly. By Wednesday, the whispers had mostly stopped, but the glares were still in full force. But today, Thursday, things seemed a bit better. Evie supposed that the truth was finally making its way through the rumor mill, or perhaps people had just found something more interesting to gossip about. Regardless, Evie was happy her plan was working and things would return to mostly normal soon.

If only soon could hurry up.

With Jay around, things just seemed more...balanced. Was that the right word? Evie certainly felt more at ease with his company than she did without it. Secure. She'd been on edge all week without him. Stressed, anxious, tense... Though, that could be because she was truly expecting Doug to ambush her again with a few not-so-nice words, or maybe something worse, and this time Jay wouldn't be around to stop him.

Even without that threat, if she was being honest, being with Jay made her feel...safe. And safe was a feeling she'd gone a long time without on the island. No one there protected each other, certainly not within the gang of kids she now called her friends. No one felt safe unless they were powerful, unless others feared them. But in Auradon, things were different. She found safety, and not just because there was no evil, but because she wasn't alone anymore. She had friends. Not fellow punk kids who'd double cross each other at any opportunity, but actual fight-for-you friends. She didn't have to stay alert, cautious, and vigilant. However, that was before all these rumors. She thought that Auradon would always feel safe, but clearly, she took that luxury for granted.

Now, walking through the halls full of students eyeing her with disdain and judgment, she didn't feel safe. Not one bit. And worse, she'd gone and told the only person that made her feel safe no matter what, to leave her alone to fend for herself.

How could she be so stupid? Sure, the plan was working, but was it even worth it?

Today she'd already decided that whatever the benefit, she wouldn't make it through the weekend. She was most definitely calling the whole thing off after classes ended on Friday. Surely people would forget about the gossip over the weekend, right? They had to have more important things to focus on than her relationship status.

Regardless, she knew she couldn't take this stress much longer. Not only was she missing Jay too much, but she didn't think her nerves could handle much more of the anxiety she felt walking through the halls, waiting to be cornered by Doug, or Chad, or Audrey, or any number of Auradonians convinced she was still evil. It was exhausting. All she wanted was to retreat to her dorm and sleep until the weekend.

Mercifully, her unreasonable project group had cut their Thursday lunch meeting short, so now she had a few extra minutes before her fashion and textiles class. This meant she could hurry through the empty halls while most everyone was at lunch and relax for a few glorious minutes in the classroom before her classmates arrived. Maybe she could even take a -

Suddenly, her pleasant thoughts were shattered as a swift force shoved her forward from behind, knocking her off balance and out of sorts. The world spun as she tried to get her bearings but failed as she was now being pulled sideways by a rough grip on her wrist. Her instincts told her to scream, run, fight, anything, but her brain had seized in panic, not even able to process who the attacker was as her body was propelled toward a wood door.

The attacker flung open the door before she ran into it and pushed her inside, abruptly plunging her into darkness. She stumbled into something hard and she used it to catch her balance as the door closed behind her with a thud. With the sound her brain snapped into action, realizing that what she was afraid of all day was actually happening.

They were trapping her.

Her heart pounding loud in her eardrums, she threw herself back toward the door to escape, but instead crashed into something only slightly softer - a person - the attacker! Her island defense instincts kicking in, she began to scream and thrash against them, hoping to weaken them enough that she could get the door open, or at least make enough sound for someone to interrupt.

"Ow! What the -" the attacker exclaimed in confusion, his tone switching from something like a chuckle to one full of alarm. "Stop! Evie, stop!"

But she didn't. The voice barely registered in her ears, let alone gave way to recognition. With only her adrenaline and the fear of what might happen if she stopped driving her, she continued to struggle for the door handle behind the attacker. She had to get out. She had to find Jay.

"Evie! Listen to me, Evie!" The voice repeated, this time more fervert, insisting. The attacker grappled for her arms as they connected with him; she could feel his grip slipping across her hands, wrists, and shoulders in the dark as he tried to stop her. She pressed forward into him with her forearm, praying that the door handle was just behind him.

Suddenly, the attacker changed tactics and in a rush he locked his arms tight around her back, pinning her arms to her sides and making all her attempts at movement futile. He'd trapped her. He had her locked tight against him.

She felt the adrenaline give way to panic in a split second and her breaths heaved fast and heavy against the attacker's neck. What would he do to her? She never expected Doug to get this physical, she'd just wanted to avoid the confrontation, but -

"Evie, calm down. It's me! It's just me!" The same voice, this time clear and close in her ear, pleaded with her, earnest and sincere.

Me? Who's me? That wasn't Doug. Someone else - someone worse?

She tried desperately to calm down and think, if only to intelligently thwart his trap, but her brain was still in overdrive. As she felt whoever was holding her shift around - locking her annoyingly easily with one strong arm as they searched for a light switch - she finally breathed in steadily. The oxygen cleared her head a bit, and also brought on the scent of the man's shirt her face was pressed into… Warm, spiced, far too familiar to be evil…

The light above them clicked on just as she pulled away and put the pieces together.

Jay.

Just like that, her fear faded with an audible sigh of relief as his worried features came into view under the harsh fluorescents of the janitor's closet. The adrenaline that had propelled her into action fizzled out as she relaxed into the arms of her best friend, more grateful than ever to see his face and not another.

"Are you okay?" he asked, direct and to the point, but with something like concern, guilt and anger all mixed together clouding his tired face.

She suddenly felt very silly. She'd very clearly overreacted and now Jay was caught in the middle of her anxiety.

"I'm fine. You just…" His face was close, eyes scrutinizing her every expression. The peace she'd felt near him just moments ago was now embarrassment, begging her to just get past this situation before she made an even bigger fool of herself. "You scared me. I thought you - I thought you were someone else. It was dumb."

He frowned, the lines and shadows she noticed when the lights came on becoming more pronounced. Not an improvement. "Someone else? Someone who was trying to hurt you? Who?"

How did he get to that conclusion? She'd said she was fine. Why didn't he focus on that part of her answer? Couldn't they just talk about something else? Something that didn't make her feel like an immature little girl?

"No, no one. I was being dramatic," she dismissed with habitual self-deprecation. Avoiding his eyes by surveying where she thought her blows had made contact with him she said, "I'm sorry I hit you. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Jay rolled his eyes and shot her an unamused scowl, seeing right through her flimsy attempt to change the subject. "Nice try. You were scared I was Doug, weren't you?"

She broke eye contact again and tried to step away, knowing full well he was correct. However, in the effort she realized his arms were still wrapped around her; she'd remained there comfortably since the lights came on. With her attempt at distance Jay only jerked her closer, the space between them so little she could once again see the faint dusting of freckles across his cheeks.

And just like that, she was suddenly overwhelmingly aware of his touch. It was like they were on the bleachers again - every part of her he touched was flushed with heat, the weight of him warm and heavy. Except, this time, it wasn't just her shoulders or her side or her hand he was touching… He was holding her against his body, meaning pretty much everything from her waist to her knee was pressed up against him, buzzing with warmth. Like clockwork her brain switched into overdrive, twirling and spinning like never before.

Through muddled thoughts she tried to remember what he'd asked her… Something about being scared? She wasn't scared now… Her mood was night and day different to just minutes ago. How strange.

Jay interrupted the cacophony in her head with a sharp inquisition. "Did he do something? Did he try to talk to you? If he did, I -"

"N-No," she managed through her haze. Embarrassed at her state, she tried again with firmer tone. "No, Doug hasn't done anything."

She watched the lines in his face soften, but only in the slightest. He seemed unconvinced, which was unsurprising. Jay was always the see-it-to-believe-it type. "You're sure?"

"Yes," she sighed, hoping he'd drop the subject and let go of her. That seemed to be the only way to get her head on straight.

He huffed in annoyance, and she knew it was because he thought she was lying to keep him from worrying. His body tensed up and she felt the muscles in his arms tighten against her back, the sensation spiking her adrenaline again.

Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice, and instead began another round of questioning. "Then why were you so afraid? I was trying to be funny pulling us in here, but obviously you thought I was going to hurt you, so -"

She probably should've evaded the question, but her head was feeling like a high speed merry-go-round and she could only manage enough thought to answer with the truth. "Fine, you're right; I was scared because I thought you were Doug or Audrey or Chad or literally anyone else in this school who thinks I'm evil and I was alone in an empty hallway with no one to hear me or help me or protect me, okay? But I overreacted, and I'm fine, so there's nothing to worry about. Can we please just move on now?"

She hated herself for sounding so irritated, especially since this was just a friend caring about her safety, but this weird hormonal tizzy was honestly starting to worry her. It was unnerving to be so disarmed by a simple thing like a boy touching her. Why did being a teenage girl have to come with this inconvenience? And why was this inconvenience showing up now, with Jay of all people?

"No," Jay answered adamantly, fixing her with a look of anger and probably pity. "This whole avoiding each other plan isn't worth it if you have to be alone and on edge all day! It's stupid and I'm not doing it anymore!"

"Jay, it's honestly not that bad. I promise," she pleaded, though he looked past her gaze as she tried to reason with him, his mind already made up.

"Evie, stop," he said flatly, look down at her with a stony expression. "I saw how stressed out you looked just walking down the hallway. If people really aren't bothering you then it should be fine to just go back to normal."

"Okay," she conceded quietly, having known already that she would give up on the plan sooner rather than later. She was too weak. Even with Jay this agitated and her hormones messing with her, she still felt more at peace in his presence than she'd felt all week. "How about we just get through tomorrow? I'm sure everything will settle over the weekend and this way you can focus on doing well on your test."

When she agreed Jay's expression softened from his grim frown, but by the end of her sentence he was rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"Fine. Tomorrow." he grumbled, his lips pouting slightly. She had to make a conscious effort not to look at them, especially when they were this close and a moment later he was taking the bottom one between his teeth… "But only if you come over tonight to help me study for the test."

With that sentence his whole demeanor shifted. His voice was deeper and softer, and his eyes flitted back and forth, watching her expression. She felt his arms loosen their tension against her back, though he showed no sign of moving them. Knowing him like she did, she recognized a pang of nervousness in her perpetually arrogant friend, though in her muddled mind the reason for it was unclear.

"But you seemed ready last time -"

"I'm not," he cut in quickly. "We got a study guide yesterday in class and I'm totally unprepared."

She frowned, worried that all their work hadn't helped. But he'd made such great strides and they'd covered all the material in the assigned chapters…

And then he looked down, a lock of his ebony hair falling forward. It was in the following moment, when his dark smoldering eyes flashed back to her face, that his strange magical spell took effect again. Just like at the bleachers, she felt as if the whole world had stopped turning and there was only Jay.

Jay and his mesmerizing eyes and his warm embrace around her and the inexplicable feeling that her whole being was buzzing with anticipation.

He spoke again, with that deep, warm voice. "Come over tonight? Please, Eves?"

His charm was magnified this time, probably because he was so so so much closer. In her flimsy, weak-willed, hormonally charged state, she didn't stand a chance.

"O-Okay," she stuttered helplessly, her voice a mere breath. She wanted to roll her eyes in embarrassment.

Then, just like last time, his bright smile appeared, bringing all of time and space to a screeching halt in a heartbeat. He was the sun, shining brighter than any of her worries or anxieties or heartaches. Nothing anyone could do or say could harm her now. Not when he smiled like this.

The moment was bliss, and she felt deep in her heart of hearts that she wanted it to stretch on forever.

What was it about that smile? Of course, she'd seen his smiles before, but not like these smiles. These were different. There was something there, something for Evie alone...

But she didn't have the chance to contemplate it, because she blinked, and the moment was gone. The spell was only a peculiar figment of her imagination. Perhaps not even real at all.

"Great, so... tonight, then…" Jay said, biting away another grin. He took a few slow steps back, his arms pulling away and his hands drifting to rest at her waist. "Then only tomorrow and everything will be good again, right?"

"R-Right." She stumbled over her words again, the mystification of the moment still puzzling her. "Just tomorrow."

Before they could say another word the warning bell rang. He moved back again, his hands sliding away from her waist entirely. It was only then, as they separated and her own hands fell, that she realized she'd been resting them against his chest. Had they been there all this time? Surely not…

"I won't see you at dinner; the team is going out. But I'll text you with a time for tonight, okay?" He said all this quickly, suddenly seeming a bit awkward. She watched his hand reach up to tuck the stray lock of hair behind his ear, his nervous gesture a familiar sight.

What did he have to be nervous for? She was the one with a teenage body acting like her goofy best friend was some hot male model. Clearly she was going crazy.

"Okay," she replied, her voice sounding a little strained. Now that he wasn't so close her brain seemed a little less foggy, but that only meant that her residual embarrassment about the last few minutes finally had the time to dawn on her. Almost instantly she felt the telltale rush of heat flood her face.

"I should get to class," she sort of squeaked, wanting to get away before he noticed her face was about as red as fire engine and wondered why. Not even she could really answer that question. "Um, wait a few minutes so it doesn't look like we were…"

She faded off, the unintended suggestion in her words making her face even hotter, if that were at all possible. Jay only chuckled in response, clearly not expecting her to think that way, which she hadn't been until she said it! She only meant that they shouldn't be seen together, not that they were doing anything inappropriate!

"Sure, I'll wait," Jay answered through poorly masked glee at her flustered state. "Though, maybe you should instead, Eves. You know, people might think you've come down with a fever with a face that red."

She made a noise of shock as she tried to cover her burning cheeks with her hands, but he was already shaking with laughter. Apparently this reaction made the situation even funnier to him. He reached out to pinch her cheeks to make fun of her, but she swatted him away.

"Shut up!" she whined, though she knew she was smiling because his laughter was always contagious.

Rather than wait for his laughter to die down, or be subjected to more teasing, she collected her bag and tried to set off for class with what she had left of her dignity.

Before she could open the door, though, Jay slapped his palm against it and leaned his weight on it so she couldn't leave. She felt her lips pout in protest, because as much as she loved laughing with Jay she really did need time to calm down before class. And she couldn't do that here, with him, as much as she wanted to.

"Jay!" she whined again, stomping her feet like a child.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he said, through chuckles that counteracted those statements. She didn't mind though, because she hadn't seen him look this happy in days, and seeing his smile made her the heavy weight on her shoulders seem lighter somehow. "I'll see you tonight, yeah?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "Tonight."

After a long beat of comfortable silence, Jay shifted around so he wasn't blocking the door and opened it for her, wearing a look on his face somehow softer and gentler than before. Evie left the closet inconspicuously and joined the waves of students flooding the hall, and though she knew her face was redder than ever, and that people were giving her even more odd looks for sneaking out of a janitor's closet, she couldn't help the feeling of happiness bursting inside her, nor could she stop the grin stretching across her crimson cheeks.

Tonight couldn't come fast enough.

* * *

 _ **the chemistry is real, fam. btw next chapter is going to be hella long. i couldn't find a way to shorten it so look forward to it! this fic is back for real, people!**_

 _ **\- m.g.**_


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